Duke insisted that he do his own jump,

John Wayne's 9-year-old daughter really loved my show, and she wanted to meet me, ... So Duke got in his station wagon and drove down to the studio one day. That's how we met. ... He's the one who got me the part (in 'True Grit').

If I get a song - a good song - I just sing it the way I hear it in my head. If anybody else wanted to add whistles and bells and chains rattling, that's fine. Just not too much. I actually just do things as straight ahead as possible.

So John Wayne ... rolled in the saddle as his nag ran at a gallop in the snow toward the chest-high fence. The horse stretched, Duke rose, and the two cleared the fence with plenty of room.

Acting alongside the larger-than-life star I'd grown up idolizing back in Delight, Arkansas, was truly one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

I had albums before that, but once the TV show started everything really took off, ... I used that show to get every country act I could onto television.