Johnny Duncan and June Stearns - Back to Back (1969/2019) Hi Res

Not to be confused with the American expatriate and British skiffle star of the same name, Johnny Duncan was a country-pop singer best known for a string of hits with producer Billy Sherrill in the late '70s. Born in the farm town of Dublin, TX, in 1938, Duncan learned guitar from his mother as a child and also had two future performers in his family in the person of cousins Dan and Jimmy Seals (of England Dan & John Ford Coley and Seals & Crofts, respectively). All four family members, plus Duncan's fiddle-playing uncle, Ben Moroney, played together in a local dance band. Duncan took up singing in his late teens and moved to Clovis, NM, in 1959, where he recorded some pop-oriented demos under producer Norman Petty. Nothing came of them, and he spent several years working as a DJ. He moved to Nashville in 1964 and worked odd jobs before landing a guest spot on Ralph Emery's television show in 1966. That led to a deal with Columbia Records, which released his debut single, "Hard Luck Joe," in 1967. Duncan had a few minor chart entries over the next few years, including two duets with June Stearns, but nothing that could be considered a breakout hit.