Johnny Granger


Hollywood’s singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers inspired fans around the world to dress up and dream. Many local country and western performers, such as Johnny Cooper and Rex Franklin, watched the romantic, stylish actors in “horse operas” (westerns) and wanted to emulate the films’ stars.

But New Zealand had the real thing: Johnny Granger, “the Yodelling Drover”. For most of his brief but busy career, he also worked as a dairy farmer on his parents’ farm at Whitford, south-east of Auckland. This made him especially qualified “to sing about cowboys,” wrote the Southland country journalist Garth Gibson. “His stage name was particularly apt, as he always felt most at home in the saddle behind a herd of cattle.”

A postcard of Johnny Granger. Many country artists in the 1950s carried postcards of themselves to give away to fans.
Johnny Granger
Barton's Follies, 1950. Johnny Granger toured Australia and New Zealand for about a year with this show.
Tear Down The Mailbox
You Don't Know What Lonesome Is
Johnny Granger in 1950
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