For those of you wondering what the "Original Urban Cowboy" is up to these days, take a seat and get comfortable. Because 71-year-old Johnny Lee has a schedule that can make you tired just by reading it.
Last Friday, Lee was relaxing inside his air-conditioned bus, getting ready for the crowd gathering in the hot August sun in New Boston for the Pioneer Days festival.
"This is what I love to do. I want to entertain them as much as they want to be entertained," he said.
Last year, Lee played 144 shows and has lost count of the number he's played in 2017. But in between gigs, he is releasing his 24th album, a book entitled "Still Lookin' for Love" and managed to squeeze in a movie role.
Lee, born John Lee Ham, started life in Texas City, Texas, and did a tour of Vietnam with the Navy.
"I saved a company of 516 men. I shot the cook," he quips about his days in Vietnam.
Upon arriving back in the states in 1968, he pursued his musical career with Mickey Gilley in Pasadena, Texas. At Gilley's club, he served as backing vocalist and trumpet player for Mickey, and was the club headliner when Gilley was on the road. A business disagreement caused them to part ways in the 1980s, but in 2015 they reunited for the Urban Cowboy 35th Anniversary concert tour.
In a Sept. 17 through Dec. 1 run, they will be performing in Branson each Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
"Then I'm going hunting," Lee added.
Ironically, Lee got his first road job in the Ark-La-Tex at Whiskey A Go-Go in Bossier City, La.
"And my very first paycheck went to the musicians union," he said.
In 1979, he was discovered by movie producer Irving Azoff, who was in Texas to start filming "Urban Cowboy," starring John Travolta and Debra Winger. He gave Johnny a small acting part and asked him to sing one of the songs, "Lookin' For Love," which soon went gold. Throughout the 1980s, Lee went on to have a string of hits, including "Cherokee Fiddle," "Could Have Heard a Heart Break" and "Bet Your Heart on Me."
"There really isn't much real country music out there anymore," Lee said. "It's up to us old guys to keep on going so the fans can have it. There's a few classic radio stations that play it, but not enough."
In 1982, he married Charlene Tilton, who played Lucy Ewing on TV's "Dallas." That two-year union produced a daughter, Cherish Lee, who is releasing her first album, "Tequila Cowgirl," this fall. Cherish is also the mother of Johnny's first grandchild, 10-month-old Wyatt. The smile on Lee's face widens as he says his grandson's name.
In recent years, Lee and Tilton banded together to produce a wedding for Cherish at the Southfork Ranch outside of Dallas, where Tilton grew up filming the show. "Charlene and I are still good friends, we talk often. She's doing just fine," Lee said.
Lee's second wife, Deborah Spohr Lee, became addicted to drugs and died after their divorce was final. Their son, Johnny Lee Jr., died of an overdose in 2014 at the age of 23, and since then Lee has devoted his time to do what he can to fight the illegal drug epidemic, such as helping his adopted home town of Branson, Mo., Police Department obtain a drug dog.
He also visits schools when on tour and speaks to the students.
"Next week I'll be speaking to high school kids in Santa Fe, Texas," he said.
He loves to hunt, fish and golf and can often be seen on outdoor television shows. Lee enjoys the spontaneity of his life.
"I like not knowing what I'm gonna do until I do it," he said.
The avid hunter also loves spending time in the kitchen, and has written his own cookbook, "Chef Boy R Lee." This book, along with his music and other book, is available for purchase on his website.
Look for the Urban Cowboy on the big screen this fall, in the John (Bo Duke) Schneider movie "4: Go."
"I play prison guard Cyrus Vance and Dean Cain (Superman in "Lois and Clark") has the starring role," Lee said. Asked what it was about, he said, mischievously, "Well, now, you have to go see it to find out."
The movie is set to open Friday, Oct. 13.