The only two jobs I ever had were with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash.
When I was 8 years old, I made my own encyclopedia of American biography – Johnny Appleseed, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Charles Lindbergh, my pantheon of favorite heroes. Then I would write my own things and sew them together and try to make my own book.
I don’t want to slip into Johnny Borrell mode. I don’t want to be singing that there’s nothing on TV, nothing on the radio.
Johnny Depp gave me the best advice. He said, ‘Keep your feet on the ground. Stay grounded. Remember where you came from.’
I didn’t know if I should tell people that Johnny Cash had an affair with his sister-in-law while his wife was pregnant. How much does the public need to know about a performer?
I guess Johnny Depp has a pretty good career. I love a lot of parts that actors have played, so I love pieces of their career, but it’s pretty hard to look at an actor’s whole career and go, ‘That was awesome!’ Usually it either ends on a crappy show or with no work at all.
Growing up on Franklin Road in Nashville, I had everyone from Johnny Cash to Fats Domino swinging by my house to talk with my mom about my dad. So I had some pretty diverse influences, and I think that shows in my music.
Nobody is convinced that Johnny Depp goes to Walmart dressed as Sweeney Todd, but everyone expects us to.
I remember seeing Letterman do stand-up on ‘The Tonight Show.’ Or, it’s probably more accurate to say, I remember hearing him do stand-up, because the Carson show existed mainly as sound leaking under my bedroom door at night. I’d hear Johnny telling jokes and my dad laughing at them.
The Progressive Blues Experiment, Johnny Winter… and Still Alive and Well is my favorite rock record.
I had to find a way to get off the streets because it was too windy. So I started organizing variety shows of street performers. I would rent a hall, cafe or bar so I could put on a show. I did that for years before the ‘Tonight Show With Johnny Carson’ heard about this odd thing I did with bubbles.
I listened to a lot of what my grandparents listened to: George Jones, Johnny Cash – a lot of old country singers. Patsy Cline.
I remember, I was at the house with my oldest son and I got that call from Johnny Ace. You know that call. Johnny was the guy that hired me, fired me and hired me back, which was kind of cool. But I was just fired, everything stopped, my whole world stopped.
It takes a long time to find your own voice. Along the way, you imitate all the things that influence you – in my case Johnny Cash, Bowie, John Lydon.
My dad was a huge country music fan, but he also had a band and he sang. So he’d listen to a lot of music and the songs that he’d learn for the band were more from the male artists. So my earliest country memories were Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck even.
I love Johnny Depp.
Johnny Carson was a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason, at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it.
I’ve done all the table reads for Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow for all the pirate movies, because he’s just been doing other stuff, and I just love the whole Jack Sparrow thing he’s got going on; it is just genius, and I just think he has so much fun with it.
The first Van Halen album makes Johnny Rotten out to be what he really was and still is: a hairdresser.
The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.
I always say Coach Trestman reminds me of the first Willy Wonka. Not the Johnny Depp one.
I love listening to the oldies like Johnny Mathis, Bing Crosby and Dean Martin – songs I grew up hearing and still know every word.
Johnny ‘Fairplay’ Dalton manufactured a lie about his dear grandmother dying in order to win a challenge. This is one of the best villain moments of ‘Survivor’ ever! This lie was pre-planned, evil, and perfectly played out.
Steve Allen was on Johnny Carson one time – I looked for it, but I couldn’t find it – and he read the lyrics to ‘Hot Stuff’ by Donna Summer like a poet. He read them very seriously. I was maybe 8, but it killed me.
Johnny Unitas was my hero.
I absolutely love Johnny Depp, and I genuinely think he’s one of the best actors of our time.
My trainer, Marty Jones, was trained by Billy Robinson, so was Johnny Saint and a lot of great British wrestlers.
My second film ‘Johnny Gaddar’ got delayed because of financial reasons. The film was taken over by another production house and in the process we lost a year.
It’s silly to throw things out or label things. You know, is U2 a Christian band, or was Johnny Cash a Christian country singer? I don’t know, but they’re pretty open about their faith.
When I was very young, it was all, ‘Here’s little Johnny,’ and I got stuck with it, but I prefer John. There comes a time in a man’s life when he shouldn’t have a name ending in ‘y’.
I look at actors like Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro, and they play all these different characters. I’m hoping that, in my lifetime, I’ll be able to look back and say, ‘You know what? I did all these different characters, and I enjoyed every single film I did.’
I miss all of my old friends who have passed away. Sometimes you just don’t understand why they were taken so soon. I loved and miss Johnny Cash. I miss my old buddy Johnny Paycheck, who happens to be buried in an area of the cemetery that I bought for my family.
No, ‘Point Break’ for me – growing up on the beaches of Sydney as a surfer, it was kind of the movie that we watched every week. For me to be Johnny Utah, I’m beside myself.
In ’84 there was Raheem, Slim Jukebox, and Sir Rap-A-Lot. Those were the first three members of the Geto Boys with DJ Ready Red. By ’85 it was Prince Johnny C, Slim Jukebox, Bushwick Bill, and DJ Ready Red. By ’89 it was Scarface, Willie D, Bushwick Bill, and Ready Red.
As a songwriter, I listen to everything to be inspired… from Rihanna to Bruno Mars to Springsteen to Johnny Cash.
After doing Johnny I wanted to just do something, I wouldn’t say innocent, but to not have any care in the world. Lots of setups and horrible happenings but its funny.
James Ralston, my guitar player, has performed with Tina Turner for about 22 years. Jim Hanson on bass has played with Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell and Bruce Springsteen, and they’re fantastic musicians and amazing singers they get a really cool vocal sound together.
When I turned 40, I invited Johnny Cash to my party, even though I knew there was gonna be 200 people roasting a pig and wild as can be. He didn’t come, but the next day, I got a bowl of chili he’d made and a note that said, ‘John, I’d love to come to your party, but that would mean I would have to leave my house.’
Johnny Gargano is someone I’ve known for years – we’ve been EVOLVE Tag Team Champions together; we’ve wrestled each other many times over the years.
I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn’t want to meet Johnny Rotten.
After The Ventures I dug Johnny Smith quite a bit.
I’ll beat Johnny Walker, and everybody will say he was a one-trick pony, he wasn’t as good as we through he was, and Corey Anderson still sucks. That’s just how they do me.
I don’t really listen to pop-country, but I like really, really old country that’s closer to folk. Like Johnny Cash, who is considered country.
It’s true I have a hard time with the notion of creating a character. And I feel it’s a limit. I’m always really impressed by actors who are able to construct a character, like Johnny Depp.
I would love to work with Johnny Depp. I really admire him as an actor, and personally, in my opinion, his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow is one of greatest performances given by an actor. I love his creative sense and the way he creates a character, so it would be a dream come true to work with him.
Just wearing all black comes from Johnny Cash. I’m on the road so much that if I wear all black, my clothes never get dirty. You can’t tell if I’ve worn the same shirt twice.
People are always asking, ‘Where does Michael Pennington end and Johnny Vegas begin,’ and you’re going, ‘It’s not like that: it’s blurred right across.’
I heard about the project over a year before we began. My American agent said, ‘Oh, you might want to read ‘In Cold Blood’ because they’re talking about you for Capote, but the script’s with Johnny Depp and Sean Penn at the moment.’ So, these things take their time to dribble down the food chain.
Once Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings are not cool on country radio, it’s time for a new format.
People have all these preconceptions about me. Whereas if you look at the roles, Henry Hill was the nicest guy in ‘Goodfellas!’ I was a nice guy too in the comedy ‘Heartbreakers.’ And I was a really sweet father to Johnny Depp in ‘Blow!’
I listened to everything. To the early Motown groups – the Four Tops and the Temptations – to Johnny Mathis, Gloria Lynne – my sisters loved her. Sarah Vaughan. Everything.
After Chuck Berry died, it seemed web sites popped up like mushrooms to show where he’d taken the guitar introduction to ‘Johnny B. Goode’ from to prove that his music was nothing new, that it was only ignorance, or vanity, that led his listeners to think that not only was the music different – they might be, too.
