Johnny Horton - The Singing Fisherman
Johnny Horton (1925-1960) was a country rockabilly singer from Los Angeles, CA. In the late 1940's he and his first wife moved to Texas where he made his first stage appearance in a talent show at the Reo Palm Isle Club in Longview.
In 1952 Johnny acquired a band and they played out of Nederland. They traveled around playing where they could, but they had to keep stopping along the road whenever possible so Johnny could do some fishing. This led to Johnny being called "The Singing Fisherman".
Not long after, Johnny was added to the line-up of the Louisiana Hayride where he helped out many others with their careers including Elvis Presley and Hank Williams. Hank & Johnny became good friends and often toured together. Once, backstage, Hank told Johnny when he died, Johnny was going to marry his wife, Billy Jean. Hank died a few months later on New Year's Eve, 1952. And sure enough, Johnny and Billy Jean were married in September, 1953.
Johnny had his first big hit in 1956 and went on to become a star during the "historical ballad" period with his 1959 song, "The Battle of New Orleans" and his 1960 song, "Sink the Bismarck". He also did the title song for the 1960 John Wayne movie, "North to Alaska".
His Last Gig
On November 4, 1960, Johnny played his last gig at the Skyline Club in Austin. That site, at the present-day NW corner of Braker and N. Lamar, is now a CVS Pharmacy and is the site of a related cache, "Last Gig at the Skyline", where you will find a bit more to this story. But back in 1960, the Skyline was a hoppin' country honky-tonk way out past the edge of town that had seen it's share of stars including, again, Hank and Elvis.
His tragic, but expected, end.
Johnny had several premonitions of his death telling him that he was going to be killed by a drunk. He was so sure of this premonition that he spoke to others about taking care of his family when he was gone and had even cancelled his appearance at the premiere of the movie "North to Alaska", for which he had written and recorded the title song.
On the night of his last gig, he refused to leave the dressing room, convinced that some drunk at the bar would kill him if he ventured out. When the time came, he went on stage and played the gig without incident. Afterwards, he and a couple of other fellas got in Johnny's car and they headed home to Shreveport via US 79.
Near this cache site, just to the west-northwest, on 79 where it passes over the railroad tracks, a 19 year old Texas A&M student veered into the wrong lane and hit Johnny's car head-on. Oddly, Johnny had many times practiced swerving to ditches on the sides of roads to avoid accidents. But when the time came, there was no ditch. There was only the side of a bridge and he had nowhere to escape to. And yes, the boy was drunk. Johnny died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital in nearby Caldwell, about 17 miles south.
The Cache
There's nothing at all special about this cache. This placement is about the history of this place.
Although this cache is available 24/7, I would not recommend going for it at night due to proximity to homes and such.