Rockin' John Henry (Tulsa's Oldest Teenager)

04/04/2024

Happy heavenly 80th Johnny!!!

Historical recordings from the Rockin John Henry Archives, including Saturday Bandstand, Smokehouse Blues, Hadacol Hillbilly Hit Parade, The Bop Cats, Live a...

04/04/2024

Remembering my father, Rockin John Henry, on his 80th birthday. Gone but never forgotten.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcgVRtKj3sT50qC3BOZptIg

04/04/2023

Remembering my father on his 79th birthday.
Gone but never forgotten.
In 1994, we managed a big Surprise 50th Birthday Bash for him. With the help of a number of people, including my mother, Jim Smith, John Wooley and many others... the surprise was unveiled live on air during his Smokehouse Blues program, which that night was a live remote from Joey's Home of the Blues. Performers on the show included Steve Pryor, Flash Terry, Bill Snow and many, many friend.
https://youtu.be/6ABaf66QGJs

I hope you enjoy.

01/21/2023

I was 12 yrs. old at the time and absolutely loved when my mom would drive me to the radio station so I could watch and listen to these guys (Bill, Gailard, Teegarden) on my Dad's show.
Priceless audio! I hope you enjoy.

Saturday Bandstand with Rockin John Henry. Special guests included David Teegarden, Bill Davis, Gailard Sartain and the Reverend, Dr. Menlo Park. Aired on ...

12/26/2022

Part 2 of Rockin John Henry's interview with Tommy Allsup.
Live in studio on Saturday Bandstand, KAKC 1300AM. Sept. 7, 1990
https://youtu.be/c9RpA44fWOw

Thank you for listening.

12/22/2022

Rockin John interviews Tommy Allsup, live in studio on Saturday Bandstand, KAKC 1300AM. Sept. 7, 1990
Part 1 of 2
https://youtu.be/iyhtlSXDRWg

12/18/2022

"Deck the Halls... Shake the Walls"
Steve Pryor and the Mighty Kingsnakes- Dec. 1991
https://youtu.be/j9JdgCjsMg4
Side A- X Mas Tears, Wait On Time, Tell Me, Little Wing
Side B- Crawlin Kingsnake, Baby I Wants To Be Loved, Waste Some Time, All Aboard, Casa Suprema

12/13/2022

Laughing Academy, Program of the Airwaves, episode from May 1976 on KAKC AM/FM Tulsa.
Sherman Oaks and Gailard Sartain !!!

Here is a cool cassette from the Rockin John Archives. Sherman Oaks, Gailard Sartain's radio show "Laughing Academy, Program of the Airwaves", which aired o...

12/12/2022

We so very much miss John Lennon who was killed on this day in 1980. In happier times, a special recording session occurred at the Record Plant Studio in 1974. L-R Jesse Ed Davis (b. Norman, OK), Eddie Mottau, Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner (b. Tulsa, OK), John Lennon, Shelly Yakus Photo by: Bob Gruen

12/12/2022

If a picture paints a thousand words, then we'd paint you! Happy 82nd Birthday to one of our favorite Tulsans, David Gates! 🎉 🍞

12/09/2022

Tulsa blues legends, Flash Terry and Glenn R. Townsend perform on Rockin John Henry's Smokehouse Blues radio program, Live from Joey's, Home of the Blues in Tulsa OK, aired live November 6, 1994. I hope you enjoy.
https://youtu.be/cD3U0hp7xCc

12/06/2022

The Soul Avengers, Live on the Smokehouse Blues with Rockin John Henry, aired August 14,1988.
https://youtu.be/zrHeOOreMyw

12/05/2022

There is nothing better to warm you up on a cold Sunday night than some Blues....
Here is some Rockin John Henry Smokehouse Blues from June 2000.
I hope you enjoy.
https://youtu.be/NgldPap3YpQ

11/05/2021

Remembering the great Clyde Stacy b. 8/11/36 d. 11/6/13

Here is a real treasure. Rockin John interviewed Clyde on Saturday Bandstand, KAKC 1300AM on Dec. 7, 1996. I hope you enjoy!!!
https://youtu.be/l-P8QJhbPLE

"Stay with Rock n Roll.... and you'll stay young forever"

08/11/2021

I’ll never stop missing you Johnny

08/11/2021

06/30/2021

Here is one of the earliest known recordings of Rockin John's Smokehouse Blues Show. Aired October 1987
https://youtu.be/JVJohrtA1M4

Enjoy... and remember....
"Stay with Rock n Roll, and You'll Stay Young Forever....."

06/22/2021

Tulsa's own...... Wanda Watson !!!
Here she is with the Band performing live on Rockin John's Smokehouse Blues Show, Live from Joey's, Aired August 15, 1993
https://youtu.be/6Jsp_GRdp3M

06/20/2021

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DAD'S

06/03/2021

06/03/2021

Remembering the great Koko Taylor, b. 11/28/28 d. 6/3/09

Rockin John interviewed Koko via telephone prior to her visit to Tulsa for the Juneteenth Blues Festival, 1994.
https://youtu.be/GqXBxfZA-ao
I hope you enjoy listening....

"Stay with Rock n Roll..... and you'll stay young forever....."

04/23/2021

Remember "Suger Shack"..... "Torquay"....... "Bulldog" ???
George Tomsco, one of the founding members of The Fireballs, born April 24. Happy Birthday George!

Here's my father's interview with George from 1996 on KAKC-Tulsa:
https://youtu.be/NMSY-Wyh8oY

"Stay With Rock n Roll and You'll Stay Young Forever........"

04/14/2021

Ellas McDaniel...aka BO DIDDLEY.
Rockin John and Bo developed a friendship thru the years.. whether it was backing up Bo with the Bop Cats or phone calls and in-studio visits.
Enjoy this interview from 1995. Rockin John with Bo Diddley,
https://youtu.be/-sSdEuXetKk

MARCH 18, 1995 KAKC AM1300 Tulsa Oklahoma

04/04/2021

Tulsa's Oldest Teenager
Happy Heavenly 77th Birthday Rockin John

"Stay with Rock 'n Roll.... and you'll stay young forever...."

02/20/2021

Rockin John's first radio gig was in Claremore Oklahoma.
KWPR 1270 AM
Dated 1970, here are the hand-typed Top 100 C&W Hits as "Made by Wayne McCombs and John Henry"

02/14/2021

What could be better than a lil' Bugs Henderson on this Arctic Oklahoma Sunday.
My father considered Bugs "one of the best" and a very close friend. From the archives, please enjoy this recording, labeled:
"Bugs- Final Mixes"
https://youtu.be/jQZ4K-D5YPk

Also, a nice memory....
Friday, October 8, 2010
Fond Memories of A DJ
By Frank Absher

One recent day I was writing in my home office when a song came on the Internet radio that grabbed my attention.

Bugs Henderson wrote it. He was singing about a disc jockey who made a huge impression on his life. My curiosity got the best of me and I set out to learn more about this guy who holds a very important spot in Tulsa radio history.

Henderson’s song is about Rockin’ John Henry (photo at left): “John Henry’s gone where the good ones go. He’s playin’ nothin’ but the finest on Heaven’s radio.”

For 25 years, Henry was a Tulsa fixture on several stations, playing old rock and the blues. His knowledge of artist trivia was legend. Listeners would hear a familiar song by a current artist and then one or two other, earlier versions of the same song, giving them a perspective of where the music originated.

As one reads the history of Rockin’ John Henry, it becomes obvious the guy would not be able to get a job in radio today. He was too independent and too creative.

“I need Rocking John Henry, man, I need some more. I need the Smokehouse Blues floating through my bedroom door.”

Henry hosted different programs through his 25-year radio career, The Hadacol Hillbilly Hoedown, Smokehouse Blues and Saturday Bandstand. Each gave him a chance to spotlight the artists, often live in the studio with him. The kids who listened felt like Rockin’ John was their friend. Today those kids are adults, and the still look back with the fondest of memories at Henry’s contribution to their earlier lives.

“He watched us fall in love beneath the Tulsa sky, holding hands and holding hearts, digging Buddy Guy.”

How great would it be for today’s kids to have someone like this who could make such a strong, positive impression on them? How different would our society be if young people felt like a radio announcer cared about them, spoke to them, kept them entertained and interested in new things? How different would the music business be if live disc jockeys commanded a loyal young audience each night?

There have been many tributes to Rockin’ John Henry since he passed in 2008. His many fans know there will never be another like him, in part because the medium has deteriorated. Near the end, he was becoming even more disillusioned with the corporatization of the business of radio, He knew it would soon become the sterile entity we have today.

Texas blues man Bugs Henderson has now immortalized his favorite radio announcer in song, a jock in Tulsa who made quite an impression on a youngster growing up down in Texas. How many of today’s announcers’ work will be so impressive that someone will look back fondly at the great radio shows of 2010?

“What the world needs now is the Smokehouse Blues from the master himself ‘cause he could light your fuse.”

02/12/2021

The Smokehouse Blues with Rockin John Henry, Live From Joeys
Ace Moreland with Mike Bruce
Aired June 21, 1992
https://youtu.be/WDqOGtzA504
Have a great weekend and stay warm !!!

02/10/2021

The Longhorn Wing Ding Gang

Can you help identify these fine people? Were you one of them?

02/07/2021

Inside the RJH collection, there are thousands of photographs that should be and will be shared.
Here are a few of Gene Crose and bandmates.
Can you help identify any of these players?

12/24/2020

"ON THE TENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, ROCKIN JOHN GAVE TO ME..........."

THANKFULNESS
Thankful to my God, for my family and my freedom. This is a simple post of what's important and a reminder from my Granny Koger of "simplicity" when we face today's crazy world.

Please enjoy Rockin John singing Christmas carols with his two sons, Johnny and Jimmy in 1975 and a message from Helen Koger (age 83), Rockin John's mother-in-law and my Granny, recorded in 1995.
https://youtu.be/peTy3fo9Fwc