Country Classic Flashback to Feature Johnny Paycheck

Each Wednesday at 8 a.m. I join Cindy and Doug for the Country Classic Flashback.  We take a trip down memory lane to highlight a country legend.  This week we are featuring Johnny Paycheck.

Johnny Paycheck was born Donald Eugene Lytle on May 31, 1938.  In the mid 1960's his health and personal well-being were in decline.  By the end of the 1960's, he was living on skid row in Los Angeles.

He achieved his greatest success in the 1970's in the country music "outlaw movement," made popular by David Allen Coe, Waylon, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. In 1977, Take This job and Shove Itmade Johnny a country superstar.

His other hits included She's All I Got, I'm The Only Hell Mama Ever Raised, Colorado-Cool-Aid, Bar-stool Mountain and many more.

His personal life was very troublesome.  He had drug problems and legal problems and on December 19, 1985, he shot a man during a bar room confrontation in Hillsboro, Ohio.  In February of 1989, he was sent to prison and released two years later.  He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in November 1997.

Johnny passed away February 19, 2003 at age 64.  He spent the last years of his life bedridden in a nursing home.  He left behind his wife of 30 years, Sharon, and one son.  His burial plot at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, Tennessee, was purchased by country legend George Jones.

Tune in every Wednesday at 8 a.m. for the Country Classic Flashback.  It's brought to you by Midwest Machinery on East Highway 23 in Sauk Rapids with 8 other locations around Central Minnesota.

For more of your classic country favorites tune into the 98 Country Classic Show from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Sunday.