40 Years Ago: Johnny Paycheck Shoots a Man (Maybe Over Turtle Soup)

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Many country music artists have claimed to be “Outlaws” over the years. Only two have produced .22 pistols and shot at people’s heads to prove it: Billy Joe Shaver, and Johnny PayCheck.

On December 19th, 1985—40 years ago today—Johnny PayCheck was at the North High Lounge bar in Hillsboro, Ohio, about 20 miles from his hometown of Greenfield enjoying a few drinks. He was in the area around the holidays to visit and care for his sick mother, and decided to stop by the local watering hole for a spell.

For most of his visit to the North High Lounge, everything seemed to be lighthearted and jovial. Johnny was drinking, and even bought a round for all the other patrons at the bar. Two of the patrons went by the names of Larry Wise and Lloyd Bowers, and they struck up a conversation with the country star.

How exactly things escalated depends on who you speak to, who you choose to believe, and how much they had to drink that night. What’s for certain is that things became heated between Johnny PayCheck, Larry Wise, and Lloyd Bowers. According to Wise, everything had been friendly, and folks in the bar were talking with each other about how to cook deer meat, and a redneck delicacy known as turtle soup.

The turtle soup reference is what supposedly set PayCheck off, inspiring him to produce a .22 pistol and shout, “‘I’m no country hick!,” before taking a shot at Larry Wise, grazing his skull with the bullet.

“My hat flew off … My ears was ringing real bad. I reached down to get my hat, and blood was running down my face. I knowed I had been shot,” Larry Wize testified during the trial.

According to PayCheck’s defense, Larry Wise and Lloyd Bowers were being combative with PayCheck. Bowers kept badgering the country star about trading hats. Right before the shooting, Larry Wize approached Paycheck with an raised beer bottle like he was about to go across PayCheck’s head with it. This is when PayCheck raised the pistol, and shot in what he claimed was self-defense.

It probably didn’t help PayCheck’s case when he fled the scene, and had to be tracked down by officers in Celina, OH, some 2 1/2 hours north of the bar. Eventually, PayCheck would be sentenced from 7 to 9 1/2-years in prison for aggravated assault. For four years, the case was in and out of courts and appeals as PayCheck did everything he could to stay out of the clink.

But on February 7th, 1989, Johnny PayCheck was finally forced to report to the Chillicothe Correctional Institute in Ohio to serve his sentence. PayCheck served 22 months before the Ohio Governor at the time, Richard Celeste, commuted the sentence of the country star.

Behind bars, Johnny PayCheck’s country music career continued on. Managed by fellow Outlaw legend Billy Don Burns at the time, Burns lined up Merle Haggard to travel to Chillicothe to record a prison album with PayCheck while PayCheck was serving his sentence. After 15 meetings with the warden, the prison finally relented and let the event move forward.

The prison album wasn’t just some rink dink affair. Two mobile 24-track recording machines in the back of a tractor trailer with 14 rolls of 2-inch tape, as well as four Beta cameras were set up to capture the whole event live with Neal James as director. In total, 52 people were on the crew, and the production costs came to $75,000, which in 1989, was quite a hefty price tag. However, the album and special have never officially been released, aside from some bootleg recordings floating around.

After his prison stint, Johnny PayCheck would go on to resuscitate his career and reputation, being inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1997. And let’s face it, the shooting incident probably helped his Outlaw cred, especially since nobody was severely injured.

Johnny PayCheck passed away in 2003 at the age of 64. His son John PayCheck still helps carry on his legacy … at least the musical part. John Jr. leaves the Outlaw stuff to pops.

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