Gene Watson's Peers within the country music industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' - and rightly so!
All of Gene Watson's Peers, who were contacted during 2018, were most gracious with their time and words.
It is here, within this special part of The Gene Watson Fan Site, that you have an opportunity to read a quote from John Northrup, which he submitted to this site on Thursday 25 January 2018.
Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to John Northrup who made a special contribution to this unique part of this online 'celebration of a Lone Star Hero'.
John Northrup
This quote was submitted on Thursday 25 January 2018.
'Sean, I have been blessed to have a lot of songs that I've wrote over the years be recorded by everyone from George Strait to George Jones (Saturday 12 September 1931 - Friday 26 April 2013).
When a writer writes a song, he imagines how it's gonna sound, hearing the singer sing it.
But when I heard Gene sing 'One & One & One' (written by John Northrup and Buddy Cannon), it far exceeded my expectation of what I imagined it would sound like.
Gene Watson is one of country music's greatest singers!'
Thank you, John Northrup, for your support of Gene Watson.
About John Northrup...
John Northrup hails originally from Toppenish, a city in Yakima County, Washington. As of the 2010 census, the city population of Toppenish was 8,949; it is located within the Yakama Indian Reservation, which was established in 1855.
John Northrup grew up in a large family with seven brothers and four sisters, but was the only one in his family who was musical.
John Northrup recalls saving up all his lawn-mowing money, when he was just nine years old, in order to buy the first record released by Merle Haggard (Tuesday 6 April 1937 - Wednesday 6 April 2016); John Northrup had learned the song before the record had finished spinning.
John Northrup's avid love for music developed into a driving force.
By his early twenties, John Northrup was deep into the songwriting craft and was out playing five nights a week at local venues, while running his own fourteen bay auto repair and body shop.
John Northrup spent two years performing at rodeos in the north-west of the United States and sold over 20,000 copies of his self released album.
John Northrup knew all he wanted was to be in the music business.
Having found music his greatest dream, John Northrup began traveling back and forth to Nashville, where he would co-write with a number of writers, including Buddy Cannon, John Scott Sherrill and Mickey Newbury (Sunday 19 May 1940 - Sunday 29 September 2002).
MCA Records took notice of John Northrup's talent and signed him as an artist. Later, John Northrup went on to sign as a songwriter with Acuff-Rose and found his niche there.
John Northrup had only been in Nashville a year and a half and already had seven major cuts, and one Billboard hit record on Vern Gosdin's recording of 'Month of Sundays', which was written by John Northrup, Buddy Cannon and Vern Gosdin (Sunday 5 August 1934 - Tuesday 28 April 2009) (No.54, 1991).
Vern Gosdin (Sunday 5 August 1934 - Tuesday 28 April 2009) went on to record five more of John Northrup's songs, George Strait recorded three, George Jones (Saturday 12 September 1931 - Friday 26 April 2013) recorded two, and Ken Mellons recorded eight.
Other artists, including Gene Watson, Tim McGraw, The Statler Brothers, Kenny Chesney and Sammy Kershaw, have found success with John Northrup's songs as well.
In 2005, John Northrup's song 'One's A Couple' (co-written with Billy Lawson and Dale Dodson) earned a place on Lee Ann Womack's 'There's More Where That Came From' (MCA Nashville Records, 2005).
Branching out his career, John Northrup got into producing, which led him further into the industry.
John Northrup then went into radio promotion, undertaking all the syndicated radio work for David Ball's single 'Riding WIth Private Malone' (written by Wood Newton and Thomas Shepherd), which was included on David Ball's 'Amigo' (Dualtone Records, 2001), reaching No.2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart in 2001; the track also reached No.36 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music singles chart in 2001.
John Northrup then began breaking acts in Texas on The Texas Chart with a soaring success rate of over eighty percent.
John Northrup's career led him next into artist management, where he managed a number of artists, including Sammy Kershaw and Michael Martin Murphy.
Along his musical journey, John Northrup also starting finding acts, developing them and getting them record deals, such as Morgan Frazier.
Throughout all his time working in various parts of the music industry, John Northrup's songwriting has remained his mainstay.
John Northrup's songwriting spans several country music eras and is going strong with multiple cuts from leading act every year.


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