Johnny Rodriguez: (HENLEY-FREY) "Desperado" (1976)

Tejano and Texas country music vocalist Juan Raoul Davis "Johnny" Rodriguez was born in a small town just 90 miles from the Mexican border. Young Johnny, his nine siblings and parents lived in a four room house. His father's cancer-related death when Johnny was sixteen and an older brother killed in a car crash a year later are cited as reasons the troubled boy ended up in jail at age eighteen.
This was a turning point for him. Befriended by a Texas Ranger who heard him sing, and with the advice of a promoter, also country vocalists Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare, 21-year-old Johnny arrived in Nashville with only a guitar in hand and $14 in his pocket. In less than a year he had a MERCURY Records contract.
Between 1972 and '89 Johnny Rodriguez placed 44 singles on BILLBOARD's C&W chart, including six #1 hits and 14 others that made the Top 10.


Produced by Jerry Kennedy; String arrangements by Cam Mullins
Released Jan. 1977 on vinyl MERCURY 45 #73878 (2-52435)

Source: 1976 vinyl MERCURY various artists LP #SRD-50,
"The COUNTRY Sampler"

Tech data: mastered with AVA triple filter© process (no Dolby)