Johnny Western (born October 28, 1934) is an American country singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and radio show host.
[1] His father was an instructor and officer in several Civilian Conservation Corps camps, where Western spent some his earlier years.
He made his first professional recordings in the summer of 1952 in the studio of WCAL Radio station of St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota.
[4] After having played a supporting role in an episode of "Have Gun, Will Travel", Western wrote "The Ballad of Paladin" as a musical "thank-you-card" to Richard Boone.
Western's third album was recorded September 17–20, 1984 at Jack Clement Studio in Nashville, with Art Sparer producing.
His scarce recording output notwithstanding, Johnny Western remained a consistent performer for over sixty years and so his name was never lost on the general public.
He wrote and performed the theme song "The Ballad of Paladin" for the CBS television program Have Gun – Will Travel, with Richard Boone.
[13] Western was never able to perform in his namesake theater, which now sits among the ruins of the Wild West World amusement park, just outside Wichita, Kansas.