Country Star Johnny Rodriguez Passes

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Johnny Rodriguez

Johnny Rodriguez, one of country music’s biggest stars of the 1970s, died in Texas on Friday (May 9) at age 73.

Famed for such hits as “Pass Me By” and “Just Get Up and Close the Door,” Rodriguez was a ground-breaking Latino artist in the country field. Songs such as “Eres Tu” and “Love Put a Song in My Heart“ were performed in both Spanish and English. Between 1972 and 1989, Johnny Rodriguez placed 45 songs on the country charts.

Born in Sabinal, Texas, Juan Raoul Davis Rodriguez was a juvenile offender. As a teenager, he was paroled to entertain at the Alamo Village tourist attraction near San Antonio. This was when he was dubbed “Johnny.” Tom T. Hall heard him there and took him under his wing.

Hall brought Rodriguez to Nashville to become a member of his Storytellers band. Rodriguez signed with Hall’s label home, Mercury Records. Hall’s brother Hillman Hall wrote the 21-year-old Texan’s 1972 debut single, “Pass Me By (If You’re Only Passing Through).” It became the first of a string of 15 consecutive top-10 smashes for the youngster. The song became a modern country standard recorded by more than 35 artists, including a 1980 hit revival by Janie Fricke.

Rodriguez and Tom T. Hall co-wrote “You Always Come Back (To Hurting Me).” In 1973, it became the first of his six No. 1 hits. Rodriguez also wrote “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico” (1973) and “Dance With Me (Just One More Time)” (1974). He won the ACM Award as Top New Male Vocalist of 1973 and was nominated for the CMA’s Horizon Award.

Music City’s top-tier country songwriters soon began providing Rodriguez with material. Larry Gatlin wrote “I Just Can’t Get Her Out of My Mind” (1975) and “If Practice Makes Perfect” (1977). Linda Hargrove wrote “Just Get Up and Close the Door” (1975) and “Savin’ This Love Song for You” (1977). In 1976, Mickey Newbury offered “I Wonder If I Ever Said Goodbye” and Billy Joe Shaver provided “I Couldn’t Be Me Without You.” Ben Peters was behind 1975’s chart-topping “Love Put a Song in My Heart,” and Dan Penn and Johnny Christopher co-wrote 1976’s “Hillbilly Heart.”

Rodriguez revived Lefty Frizzell and Whitey Shaffer’s “That’s the Way Love Goes” in 1974. The song later became a big hit for Merle Haggard, too. The 1978 Rodriguez hit “We Believe in Happy Endings” was penned by Bob McDill. Ten years later, it was revived in a duet by Emmylou Harris and Earl Thomas Conley.

The new star’s yearning tenor easily adapted pop tunes for country listeners, notably George Harrison’s “Something” (1974), Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s “We’re Over” (1974) and The Eagles’ “Desperado” (1977).

“Love Me With All of Your Heart” had been a huge hit for the pop chorale The Ray Charles Singers in 1964, but the song originated in Mexico as “Cuando Calienta El Sol.” In 1978, Johnny Rodriguez’s bilingual country hit brought the song back to its roots. “Eres Tu (Touch the Wind)” was an international smash for the Spanish pop group Mocedades in 1974. Rodriguez adapted it for country music three years later.

The handsome young country star guested on such TV shows as Adam 12 and The Dating Game. He was also featured in the 1976 B-movie Nashville Girl. He toured internationally, appearing in countries such as Switzerland, England, South Korea, France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Guam and Poland, as well as Canada and Mexico.

The hits came less frequently after Johnny Rodriguez signed with Epic Records. His co-written “Down on the Rio Grande” was a top-10 hit in 1979. The 1983 releases “Foolin’” and “How Could I Love Her So Much” repeated the feat. He wrote his Epic singles “Born With the Blues” (1982) and “Back on Her Mind Again” (1983). Other highlights during his tenure with Epic included the top-20 singles “Fools For Each Other” (1979, another song he co-wrote), “What’ll I Tell Virginia” (1979), “North of the Border” (1980) and “Too Late to Go Home” (1984). “I Hate the Way I Love It” was a 1979 duet with label-mate Charly McClain.

His final top-20 success came when he signed with Capitol and issued “I Didn’t (Every Chance I Had)” in late 1987. When Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson recorded their debut album as The Highwaymen in 1985, they invited Rodriguez to provide a Spanish vocal for their version of Woody Guthrie’s song “Deportee.” Another late-career highlight was his performance of “Across the Valley From the Alamo” on the CMA-nominated Asleep at the Wheel CD Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys in 1994.

He remained a popular concert attraction, particularly back home in Texas. Rodriguez performed for the presidential inauguration of Texan George H.W. Bush in 1989. The singer was married three times, including a seven-month union with Willie Nelson’s daughter Lana in 1995.

Rodriguez developed drug and alcohol problems. In 1998, he shot and killed an acquaintance, believing him to be a burglar in his home. A jury acquitted him of murder in 1999.

His career never recovered. Rodriguez recorded little-noticed, independent-label albums for Intersound (1993), Hightone (1996), Paula (1996), Intercontinental (2001), KRB (2007), RunninWide (2012) and other small imprints. He continued to perform in the Lone Star State into his 60s and 70s. Johnny Rodriguez was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. He staged a triumphant revival at the CMA Music Fest in 2017.

Johnny Rodriguez entered hospice care last week. His death was announced by his singing daughter, Aubry Rodriguez. Her debut single is “Pass Me By” as a tribute to her father. No funeral arrangements have been announced.

Robert K Oermann
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