With the demise of the Cadence label, he formed a production company and moved to MGM Records, starting with his version of the recent country charted No. 1 song by Ernest Ashworth, "Talk Back Trembling Lips," reached # 7 in January 1964 on Billboard's Hot 100.
In May 1991 his 22-year-old daughter Kelli was killed in a car accident which devastated Johnny as well as his surviving son and family.