516 Jimmy Dean (1928-2010) “Big Bad John” 1961

“He was raised in what he called dirt-poor surroundings in the small west Texas of Seth Ward, near Plainview. After leaving the armed forces in 1948, Dean began to make his name as a country singer around Washington DC, then a nexus of country music activity…But Dean’s career did not depend on recordings. He was one of country music’s earliest television stars” (Tony Russell, The Guardian, 6/17/2010). 

Jimmy Dean “Big Bad John”