Born John Bush Shinn III in 1935 in the hardscrabble blue-collar neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Johnny Bush became an early devotee of the Western Swing music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and the honky-tonk sounds of Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson. Thanks to his uncle, Jerry Jericho, who had a radio program on KTHT, John and his brother made fledgling broadcasts that imbued the thrill of performance into John Bush Shinn's young musical soul.
He was only 17 when he moved to San Antonio to pursue his passion, a passion that introduced him to the honky-tonk universe of wine, women, and song. As a regular performer at the Texas Star Inn he picked up the moniker that would accompany him though decades of stage and recording work when the club's announcer mistakenly introduced him as "Johnny Bush."