JOHNNY ASHCROFT

Johnny Ashcroft OAM (born 1 February 1927 in North Sydney) was a country music entertainer, songwriter, recording artist and musician. Ashcroft was raised under extremely poor circumstances. As a child growing up during the Great Depression in Australia, he lived in a bag shack with a dirt floor. An interest in indigenous cultures, in particular Australian Aboriginal culture, was possibly influenced by these humble beginnings. During World War II, Ashcroft began his career by playing a guitar and singing mainly bush ballads. Back then, bush ballads were often called ‘hillbilly’ songs. Ashcroft’s first 78rpm, recorded in 1946, featured only one song – ''When I Waltzed My Matilda Away''. It was distributed solely for radio airplay.

In the mid-1940s he traveled with vaudeville shows. While working in the Great Levante Show, he learned about show business traditions and the psychology of live performing from the Great Levante (Les Cole) and one of Australia’s greatest vaudevillian comics, Bobby Lebrun. In 1954, Ashcroft laid down his first commercial recordings–six sides (three 78rpms) for Rodeo Records. These were recorded live. His mid-1950s Phillips ‘microgroove’ vinyl album, 'Songs Of The Western Trail', also recorded live with the Gaby Rogers orchestra, was Australia’s first vinyl country and western (C&W) LP record. Four years later the next Australian C&W vinyl LP made its appearance. 'Songs Of The Western Trail' is ensconced in Australia’s recording history. And Australia’s very first trucking song, 'Highway 31', written by Ashcroft, enhanced its uniqueness. 

Ashcroft was the first Australian C&W artist to appear on Australian TV. In 1956, as the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (then Commission) began transmitting from its tiny Arcon Studio at Gore Hill, Sydney, Johnny wrote and sang the show’s title theme, ''Crazy Cross''. He also performed in the show, which was set in Sydney's Kings Cross, New South Wales, with actor Gordon Chater serving as its anchorman.  In a career about-face, Ashcroft recorded a 4-track, traditional jazz, 45rpm extended play (EP), 'Graeme Bell Plays For Johnny Ashcroft' with jazz legend Graeme Bell. This 1957 offering is now a collector’s item. Before completely destroying his old image, Ashcroft recorded Gordon Parsons’s, ''A Pub with No Beer''. This 45rpm was also released in the UK, USA and during a beer strike in Canada. It was not only available on vinyl but anecdotally sold 110,000 copies in Australia, on plastic-coated cardboard records.

''They’re A Weird Mob'', recorded in late 1958, also included the doyens of Australian jazz: Graeme Bell, Don Burrows, John Sangster, George Thompson, Ron Falson together with Noel Smith from the Royal Ballet Orchestra. This skiffle song became Ashcroft’s first hit single. Although the term had not yet been coined, Ashcroft’s 1960 smash hit, ''Little Boy Lost'', was Australia’s first country-rock song. Again, it was arranged and recorded by jazzmen, including guitarist George Golla. This song, written by Ashcroft from DJ Tony Withers’s idea, tells the story of Steven Walls who became lost from his parents' property at Tubbamurra near Guyra, NSW. Five thousand people, seven aircraft, together with Aboriginal tracker William Stanley, searched the rugged bush country, which was rife with dingos and deadly snakes. He was found alive and well four days later. The search for the Little Boy Lost continues to be Australia's biggest.

At the height of ''Little Boy Lost’s'' success, Ashcroft withdrew his recording from airplay out of consideration for the family of 8-year old Graeme Thorne, the victim of Australia's first kidnapping. The one single element connecting Little Boy Lost to this tragedy was its title. Johnny Ashcroft thereby became the only singer/songwriter in the world to nobble his own hit. Despite its withdrawal, it topped Top 40 charts longer than the combined total of two other major hits of the same era: ''A Pub With No Beer''–one week and ''Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport''–three weeks (Little Boy Lost–six weeks). In the absence of videos and DVDs, a film clip of Ashcroft singing ''Little Boy Lost'' on B&W TV was distributed worldwide by EMI. This was a first for Australia. In the early 1960s, a march-tempo song,'' The Girl Behind The Bar'', written by Slim DeGrey in the infamous Japanese Changi Prison Camp during WWII, was Ashcroft’s third hit–again supported by a film clip.

The Little Boy Lost (1978 film), in which Ashcroft and Gay Kayler recorded the vocal sound track, starred John Hargreaves and Lorna Leslie with Rockhampton schoolboy Nathan Dawes as Steven Walls. His album 'Mostly Folk', recorded in the mid-1960s, served to confirm Ashcroft’s breadth of talent. When this folk LP was later released under its new title, 'Little Boy Lost', it went Gold. The modern country music album 'You And I Country Style', which Ashcroft recorded with Kathleen McCormack, went Gold in record time. It broke the image that Australian hillbilly/bush balladeers and C&W artists (including Ashcroft) had bestowed upon country music. Importantly, it set modern country music apart and put it on the long road to the success it enjoys today in Australia.

Ashcroft was the first country artist in Australia to have Gold records presented on stage, when three were bestowed simultaneously before a live audience in Tamworth, NSW, in 1971. During the ceremony, Ashcroft suggested that Tamworth might consider annual country music record-award presentations in that city. Consequently, two years later, in 1973, Tamworth began promoting itself as Australia’s Country Music Capital. With Golden Guitars designed by John Minson, Tamworth had started its journey to eventually become recognized as one of the world’s top ten music festivals

A bushranger album, 'They All Died Game', written by Ashcroft and Joe Halford in 1971, became an Australian record industry icon. Based on sound historical fact, it was fully researched and recorded with mostly jazz musicians, giving this unique album a unique sound. The melodies of four songs from 'They All Died Game' were recorded and released in Italy. Al Caiola, famed guitarist of The Magnificent Seven and Bonanza, recorded ''Thunderbolt’s Lament'' (sub-titled Yellilong, I Love You) in the USA, for the giant worldwide music company, Muzak.

In 1973, Ashcroft and Gay Kayler (Kahler) became country music’s most unusual solo/duo artists. After working solo on stage to demonstrate and maintain their individuality, they then came together in duets. This format was extremely successful at the Sydney Opera House when, four months after its opening, Ashcroft and Kayler topped the bill in a country music show presented by the Australian Festival Of Performing Arts. Eight weeks later they again starred in the Australian Variety Show in the main Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Both shows were markedly different. They appeared eight times in this venue. 1973 was the year Ashcroft and Gay Kayler recorded their 'Faces Of Love' album. Each featured in solo performances and duets.

Ashcroft also wrote Australia’s first female trucking song, ''My Home-Coming Trucker’s Coming Home'', recorded by Gay Kayler. It became a country hit, which was also programmed into general airplay. His 1978 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' LP, included a faithful cover-reproduction of Fredrick McCubbin’s 1889 painting, Down On His Luck.  In another departure from modern country music, Ashcroft appeared on the album, 'A Time For Change', as his disco-singing alter ego, the Baron. The LP also featured Gay Kayler, Ashcroft’s partner (and wife), as Lady Finflingkington, the Baron’s jazz-scatting eccentric consort. From this LP, the Baron released ''Sixteen Tons Of Hit The Road Jack''–a 45rpm, 12-inch, disco single.

In 1989, the milestone historical album, 'The Cross Of The Five Silver Stars', featured Ashcroft, Gay Kayler, Bettybo and their musical director, Rob (Shep) Davis. Coupled with the 'They All Died Game' album and four bonus tracks, this LP was released on a Rajon Music 28-track double CD set, Johnny Ashcroft, 'Here’s To You, Australia!' on 4 August 2007. Johnny Ashcroft was awarded the Medal of the Order Of Australia (OAM) in 1990 and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of History and Arts (FAIHA). Johnny died in 2021 aged 94.

SINGLES
''They're A Weird Mob (#62) / Phantom Guitar'' 1958 Bell
''Buzz, Buzz, Buzz'' 1958 Bell
''The Prisoner's Song / Son Of Old Shep'' 1960 Columbia
''Little Boy Lost (#3) / My Love Is A River'' 1960 Columbia
''Big River (#55) / The Flying Red Horse'' 1960 Columbia
''Gambler / Buffalo'' 1961 Columbia
''Little Kangaroo / Your Turn To Cry Over Me'' 1961 Columbia
''A Drop In The Bucket / Fisher's Ghost'' 1961 Columbia
''The Girl Behind The Bar (#31) / Because My Love Is Gone'' 1962 Columbia
''Bullroarer / Keepin' Up With The Jones's'' 1963 Columbia
''Kimberley Way / Billabong Bill, The Winger'' 1964 Columbia
''Mrs. Swaggie Joe / Bushfire'' 1965 Columbia
''Who Pinched Me Kangaroo / Dry'' 1966 Columbia
''Big Country / They're A Weird Mob'' 1966 Columbia
''It's The Same Old Story / Honey I Know'' 1967 Columbia
''Another Fool Like Me / I'm Falling In Love With You'' 1968 Columbia
''Think Pink / Don't Forget Me, Ida'' 1968 Columbia
''With A Dog And A Gun / The Night Before I Die'' 1971 Columbia
''Sunday Morning Christian / Heaven Help Us All'' 1971 Columbia
''The First Day Of Never / Daddy Hard Heart'' 1971 EMI
''Playground In My Mind (#19) / Jody And The Kid'' 1973 EMI
''May The Road Rise To Meet You / She Thinks I Still Care'' 1974 RCA
''Holy Joe The Salvo (#53) / Song For Danny'' 1975 RCA
''Darwin Lives On'' [with Rocky Thomas And The Good Music Orchestra] '' 1975 RCA
''Darlin' Biddy / Dorrigo Tiptoe'' 1975 RCA
''The Littlest Cowboy Rides Again / Shoe'' 1976 RCA
''Talkback Radio / Doesn't Anybody Love A Cop'' 1977 RCA
''And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda / The Louisville Line'' 1977 RCA
''Little Boy Lost / Happy Sad'' 1978 RCA
Just Another Long Lost Love / Street Singer'' 1979 RCA
''The Last Laugh / She's My Ever Lovin' Machine'' 1980 RCA
''Rock & Roll Me [with Gay Kayler] / Imagine That'' 1981 RCA

EPs

'Graeme Bell Plays For Johnny Ashcroft' 1958 Bell
'Johnny Ashcoft And Graeme Bell' 1958 Bell
'Johnny Ashcroft' 1964 Columbia
'The First Christmas Day' 1966 Columbia

ALBUMS

'Songs Of The Western Trail' 1957 Philips
'Little Boy Lost' 1960 Columbia
'Mostly Folk' 1965 Columbia
'One More Time Around' 1969 Columbia
'Johnny Ashcroft Now' 1969 Columbia
'Johnny Ashcroft Unlimited' 1970 Columbia
'They All Died Game' 1971 MFP
'Requests' 1972 Axis
'Country' 1972 Columbia
'Faces Of Love' [With Gay Kahler] 1973 Columbia
'People Places And Gertrude' 1975 RCA
'I've Got A Thing About Trains' 1976 RCA
'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' 1977 RCA
'Johnny Ashcroft In Little Boy Lost Country' 1978 RCA
'A Time For Change' 1981 RCA
'Heaven Help Us All' 1987 EMI
'Johnny Ashcroft Live At Wentworth Leagues Club' 1987 EMI
'The Cross Of The Five Silver Stars' 1989 Jade

References

http://au.wow.com/wiki/Johnny_Ashcroft

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/