Johnny Cash's 1958 Western Canada "Teenage Queen" Tour

Johnny Cash had a surprise hit in early 1958 with “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” turning him into an unlikely but short-lived pop star! The record inspired an interesting marketing campaign involving teenage beauty pageants held in Hudson’s Bay department stores across Western Canada. 

Johnny Cash at the Edmonton Hudson's Bay store, March 13, 1958. (Photo by Richard Proctor, Provincial Archives of Alberta)

Johnny decided to record “Ballad of a Teenage Queen”, written by his new record producer Jack Clement, and it was one of the first songs he’d record that was not self-penned. He was reluctant to record the pop song at first, since it was a huge departure from his previous songs about trains and murderers (“Hey Porter”, “Train of Love” and “Folsom Prison Blues”), but recorded it along with “Big River” on November 12th, 1957. It sounded unlike any previous songs since it was the first to not feature the striking electric guitar work of Luther Perkins, instead Jack Clement added overdubs that were completely uncharacteristic for a Johnny Cash record – a barbershop quartet and overpowering soprano – to Johnny’s displeasure. Both “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” and “Big River” were released on January 6, 1958, on what would turn out to be Johnny’s second last single at Sun Records. In an abrupt stylistic change, Johnny self-consciously lip-synched the new song without his band on January 21st (on the American Bandstand television show) while wearing a white bow tie. 

Johnny Cash lip-synching "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" on American Bandstand, January 21, 1958.

The Western Canada tour (March 11-14) was planned to have Johnny fly into a new city each morning, then perform promotional duties like radio and TV interviews, record signings and then arriving at “The Bay” in that city to personally select a winner for that city's “Teenage Queen”. The Hudson’s Bay department stores would provide prizes to the winner including a Hudson’s Bay point blanket coat, a hundred-dollar Seabreeze three-speed automatic record player, fifty dollars worth of records and a dinner date with Johnny Cash after the show.

Edmonton Journal, March 12, 1958.

But the tour had a rocky start: Johnny was again booked to appear on TV on Saturday, March 8th (on The Dick Clark Show) in New York City and after the show, instead of travelling up to Saskatoon for the first tour date, Johnny took a detour back home to Memphis just to be home for a few hours on Sunday afternoon (and also to meet up with singer Carl Perkins who was going to convoy with them). Unfortunately, while driving north on Monday, they hit a blizzard and had to get a hotel in Fargo, North Dakota. The blizzard conditions worsened on Tuesday, so eventually Johnny & Carl chartered a plane together (presumably leaving the other band members to drive the cars up when conditions cleared) and arrived late which delayed the shows by two hours in Saskatoon. An article in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix names Miss Rosanne Sorkowsky as “Teenage Queen” (but other sources have mentioned that she died tragically and a 14-year old Joni Mitchell was crowned at a later date). 

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, March 12, 1958.

The Calgary show on Wednesday was successful with a crowd of 5,000, Johnny performed his ever-popular Elvis Presley impression and Miss Dorothy Saunders was crowned as “Teenage Queen”.

Calgary Herald, March 13, 1958.

On Thursday, March 13, Edmonton photographer Richard Proctor caught photos of this event in the Edmonton Hudson’s Bay store. Five teenagers were pre-selected and dressed up with shiny robes and garlands of flowers in their hair, then Johnny Cash selected Miss Betty Ewasiuk as “Teenage Queen” and she was given a robe with white fur trim to wear and presented with a certificate.

Johnny Cash at Edmonton's Hudson's Bay store, March 13, 1958. (Photo by Richard Proctor, Provincial Archives of Alberta)

The Edmonton show that night was at Edmonton Gardens, and an audience member walked up to the stage and took two photos (though these photos are often incorrectly attributed to the 1957 tour). There is a clock visible on the right side of the photo: the show had started at 8:30pm with Johnny’s opening acts, and the first photo is taken with Johnny performing at 9:44pm. Johnny is clearly playing an E-chord on his guitar, but that doesn’t help narrow down the song since the vast majority of his songs in this early period were in the key of E (including “Folsom Prison Blues”).

Johnny Cash at Edmonton Gardens, 9:44 pm, March 13, 1958 (Reddit.com).

The second photo was taken at 9:51pm. Since Luther Perkins is playing a D-chord, and there is only one song from Johnny's early repertoire that use a D-chord, we can unequivocally know that this photo captures the third verse of “I Walk the Line”. Johnny appears to be muting the strings to mimic a snare drum (which was a technique also used in the recorded version of this song) and all the performers are standing more stoically. In this photo, Johnny is just about to sing “As sure as night is dark and day is light…”

Johnny Cash performing "I Walk the Line" at Edmonton Gardens, 9:51 pm, March 13, 1958 (Reddit.com).

The tour then went to Regina, with Miss Maureen Bowler crowned as "Teenage Queen", then headed back below the border for shows in St. Paul, Minnesota and Des Moines, Iowa. A photo also exists from the Des Moines show at the KRNT Theater, showing Johnny and his band wearing the same stage clothes as the Edmonton show. The drumkit in the background was from Carl Perkins band.

Johnny Cash at KRNT Theater in Des Moines, March 16, 1958 (Worthpoint.com)

A more extensive "Teenage Queen" tour was undertaken in Canada's Maritime provinces a few weeks later (April 28-May 10).

Ironically, “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” was about someone leaving their hometown and finding wealth and fame in Hollywood movies, and in September 1958, Johnny relocated his entire family to Hollywood hoping to follow in Elvis’ footsteps and become a movie star.