WACO, TEXAS, USA — Sometimes all it takes is a new landscape to come up with fresh song ideas, and that’s exactly what John 3 did. John Connor, also known as John 3, has released a song with a rockabilly and country vibe that is getting the attention of both fans and music tastemakers alike.
John 3 has released five full-length albums in five consecutive years, ranging from rock and blues to instrumental tracks in folk and contemporary genres. “I released my first album, School Days, in 2017 because two of my guitar students encouraged me. I recorded it in 2007 and it just sat for a decade. My students never cease to amaze me. If it hadn’t been for them, there’s no telling where I’d be in my songwriting career,” exclaimed John.
Following John’s debut album, he released two instrumental albums back to back. “I wanted to try new music styles. I even expanded on my songwriting skills and different instrumentation concepts that were, at that time, foreign to me,” John said.
John 3 got back to his rock and blues roots again with albums four and five. “After I finished my fifth album I needed a break. Five albums in five years is a lot of work,” stated John.
Taking a short hiatus from music, John got into a new hobby with remote control (RC) cars to take his mind off of the rigors of life. Unbeknownst to him, this new hobby would be the catalyst to writing new songs.
John 3 recalls his first experience at the race track, “Originally I drove my RC car in the front yard. Then I found out there was an RC track near by and I had to check it out. The first time at the track was very exciting. I was blown away by how fast the racers were.” And that’s when John met Ricky Chuck.
“Ricky is one of the fastest racers at the track. There’s no mistaking his buggy, the Yellow Mugen,” John mentioned, and goes on to explain that Ricky races a popular competition race buggy by the RC company, Mugen Seiki, and dubbed “The Yellow Mugen” due to its bright yellow paint scheme.
One day John 3 said in a somewhat joking manner to Ricky Chuck and his other friends at the track that Ricky needed an official theme song. They agreed. “I got to work right away on the song. It took maybe ten minutes to write. It’s a simple chord progression and the ideas for the lyrics are based on my experiences with Ricky. I mean who wouldn’t want to hear Chuck’s story,” exclaimed John.
Ricky Chuck explains how the race track came into existence, “Me and a few friends of ours built the old Speegleville track out here in Waco. I bought an RC car and I’m like, ‘what the hell am I going to do with it, drive it up and down the road?’ No, we got to find somewhere to build a track, so we built it.”
John filmed a rough draft of the song, Ballad of Ricky Chuck, to see what his friends at the race track thought. They liked it which gave John 3 the green light to head back in the studio to record Ricky Chuck’s song.
Ballad of Ricky Chuck went on to release May 5, 2022 through John 3’s distributor, CD Baby. It has been a featured track on Pandora Radio and is getting exposure in parts of Brazil and curated on Spotify playlists.