“I need an old friend, ‘cause old friends know just what to do on any given day, when to get up in your face, when to walk away, I need an old friend.”

— “Old Friend,” Cowboy Johnson

Cowboy Johnson is a relatively new friend. But sit down and talk with him a couple of times and it’s easy to see him as an old friend, like you’ve known him for years.

And on the morning of April 25, the 73-year-old musician did what a good friend would do: Cowboy joined me and a handful of others for a quiet memorial service for Dorinda on a Gulf Shores beach at sunrise. I hadn’t known him long, but he offered to come sing when he learned about the service I had planned.

Strumming his guitar and accompanied only by the crashing waves, he sang three songs that morning. One of them was his own, “Old Friend.”

There was Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” and “You Got to Believe,” a song written by Susan Osborn. The three songs could not have been more perfect.

Perfect. That's the word Cowboy uses when asked what satisfies him most about performing at venues across Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

“When I sing a song and I see people drying their eyes, perfect,” he said. “I know I’ve touched somebody.”

There were tears that morning on the beach. He may have brought a tear or two to your eyes if you’ve watched him sing.

First arriving in Gulf Shores in 2005 for the Frank Brown Songwriters’ Festival, Cowboy played here for a dozen years before moving back to his home state of California with his girlfriend, Kerri.

He returned to the Gulf Coast nearly two years ago after he and Kerri lost everything in a house fire, including their dog. That brought him back to this community, where the atmosphere of live music fills the air every night, somewhere.

Like many songwriters, Johnson says his inspiration often comes from life's difficult moments.

"There are a lot more deep, sad songs than happy songs," he said.

One of those songs is “Old Friend,” written after the end of a relationship in Texas. The idea came while driving through Austin, comparing the comfort of an old pair of jeans with the uncertainty of a new one. He pulled into a parking lot and wrote the song in minutes.

It was already my favorite song I’d heard him sing, but it took on added meaning after hearing it on the beach that morning. You can listen to the song on YouTube here: https://tinyurl.com/yjnvt2n7

Over the years, Johnson has shared stages with respected songwriters, performed at Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic and built friendships across the music community. Cowboy was on a Texas golf course one day when Nelson called and invited him to play his picnic, having learned of him through his longtime guitarist.

Yet awards or fame aren’t what drives him. He didn’t want to go to Nashville or elsewhere. The Gulf music scene suits him just fine. It was never about the money, he said.

“Growing up in California, I always loved to sing. By the time I was five, I would sing solos in church.”

And he discovered another talent en route to becoming a musician – a photographic memory that has helped him build a catalog of thousands of songs he can play. Not a trained musician, he learned a few guitar chords and picked up the rest by ear.

“I just have a brain that once I remember a song... it's logged in,” he said. “Sometimes I can hear the recording of it, so I can hear the words and the melody."

He intends to continue playing around the Gulf community as long as possible. He credits leaving drugs and alcohol behind decades ago with helping him continue performing into his 70s.

Oh, the nickname, because he wasn’t born Cowboy – he was born Kent Louis Johnson. I introduced my grandchildren to Cowboy a few months ago. Of course, they asked him if he had a horse since he was called Cowboy. He told them not anymore.

So, I asked him last week about the origin of the nickname. He moved to the upper Midwest when in his teens, working in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Decades ago, he earned his nickname after an incident involving a few mailboxes, a pistol and friends who decided they had to "do something about that cowboy." The name stuck.

His music style?

“I would say it’s true Americana, blending some blues, country, gospel and rock sometimes.”

To Cowboy and his many followers, it’s a familiar, welcoming sound.

Like an old friend.

Wayne Smith is a freelance writer and has worked as a writer and editor at newspapers across Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. His weekly column focuses on navigating Gulf Shores alone after losing his wife to cancer, and the places he discovers and the people he meets. Read his previous columns at www.GulfCoastMedia.com. Contact him at wwsmith6410@gmail.com or visit www.doublewwordsmith.com.