Gimble was born in Tyler, Texas, United States,[5] and grew up in nearby Bascom. He began playing in a band with his brothers at age 12, and continued playing with two of them, George and Jerry, as the Rose City Swingsters. The trio played local radio shows, and gigs at dance halls. Gimble later moved to Louisiana and began performing with the Jimmie Davis gubernatorial campaign. He was offered a job in the Governor's administration but turned it down to volunteer for service in the U.S. Army. Gimble returned to Texas after completing his service in the U.S. Army in World War II.
Back in Texas, Gimble continued to hone his fiddling skills with a number of Texas radio and dance bands. In 1948, he made his first recording, playing with Robert Brother's Rhythmairs in Corpus Christi. A year later he joined Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, with whom he toured for most of the next decade.[5] With Wills, he played both fiddle and electric mandolin, and distinguished himself by using a five-string fiddle (most fiddles have four strings).[6]
His fiddling style was influenced by other Texas fiddlers who played the "breakdown" fiddle tunes. Gimble's fiddling style, while uniquely his own, came to be known as the "Texas fiddling style" that emerged during the first half of the twentieth century among fiddlers such as Cliff Bruner, Louis Tierney, and Jesse Ashlock. Gimble learned from them, and further developed while playing with Wills, who epitomized and promoted a new sound known as Western swing. Western swing rose to national prominence in the 1940s, combining the old-time, Southern-derived Anglo string band tradition, with its breakdowns, schottisches, waltzes, and reels, with the big band jazz and pop music of the day.
After Gimble married Barbara Kemp of Gatesville, Texas, in 1949, he settled in Dallas, where, in the early 1950s, he began doing radio and television shows with Bill and Jim Boyd (of the Lone Star Cowboys) and performed on The Big D Jamboree, a weekly variety show broadcast live from the Dallas Sportatorium. He broke off to form his own group in 1951, performing as the house band at Wills's clubs in Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, but rejoined in 1953 and continued to play with Wills until the early 1960s. He played fiddle on Marty Robbins' No. 1 hit "I'll Go on Alone".[7]
From 1979 to 1981, Gimble toured with Willie Nelson worldwide, and appeared in a supporting role in the film Honeysuckle Rose.[10] In 1983, Gimble assembled a Texas swing group featuring Ray Price on vocals, and charted a country radio hit with "One Fiddle, Two Fiddle", featured in the Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man in which Johnny had a supporting role portraying Bob Wills.[11] He appeared from the 1970s through the 2000s on Austin City Limits on TV and Garrison Keillor's broadcasts (radio). At the time of his death, he held the record for most appearances on the Austin-based PBS show. He was a member of the Million Dollar Band, and frequent guest on "Hee Haw".
Gimble and his wife Barbara were divorced twice and remarried twice. They had a son and two daughters, and as of 2022 they had four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.[12]
Johnny and his son Dick Gimble, a college professor of music at McLennan Community College, started a Western Swing Camp focusing on fiddle. After two years in Waco and with the help of daughter Cyndy they moved the camp to SMU's Taos Campus and ensured that the western swing style of country music was passed on to the next generation.
Gimble's granddaughter, Emily, is a notable vocalist and keyboard player who has performed with Johnny, Asleep at the Wheel, Warren Hood, and Hayes Carll. Emily was a regular member of Asleep at the Wheel as keyboardist and vocalist from 2014 to 2016, a band that frequently partnered with Johnny to bring the music of Bob Wills to newer generations. She has since launched a solo career, based out of Austin, Texas, and followed Johnny's footsteps as the State Musician of Texas for 2020.[17]
Gimble's grandson, Jon Gimble, is the District Clerk in McLennan County and serves on the Texas Judicial Council.[18][19]
Death
Gimble died not far from his home in Dripping Springs, Texas, on May 9, 2015, aged 88.[1] His daughter stated that her father was "finally rid of the complications from several strokes over the past few years".[20]
From 1975 to 1990, he was nominated 15 times for Instrumentalist of the Year and won the Country Music Association Award five times. Johnny garnered nine Best Fiddle Player awards from the Academy of Country Music. Gimble was nominated for a Grammy for his performance on the 1993 Mark O'Connor album Heroes, and was awarded two Grammy awards: 1) in 1994 for his arrangement of "Red Wing" on the Bob Wills tribute album by Asleep At The Wheel; 2) and in 1995 for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Hightower" with Asleep At The Wheel.[29]
