Act Naturally

Johnny Russell got the idea for "Act Naturally" after breaking a date with his girlfriend to join friends for a recording session in Los Angeles. When she asked why he was going, he joked that they were going to put him in the movies and make a big star out of him, and the two laughed. That remark inspired a love song about a jilted man who could play a sad and lonely film part without knowing anything about acting. Russell wrote it that same day, but nobody wanted it. His producer in Los Angeles turned it down, insisting songs about the movies were not hit material, and two full years passed before anyone recorded it.

Russell was writing with Voni Morrison in 1963, and she also worked with Buck Owens, a singer based in Bakersfield, California. She thought the song suited Owens and offered to get it to him. Russell gave her a partial songwriting credit in exchange, though her only involvement was submitting it. Owens disliked the song at first, but Buckaroos bandleader Don Rich liked Russell's demo, and the song eventually grew on Owens. He telephoned Russell one night to ask about recording it, only for Russell to learn that Owens had already cut it that day and simply wanted the publishing rights.

Owens and the Buckaroos recorded it at Capitol Studios in Hollywood on February 12, 1963, and released it the following month. It reached number one on the Billboard Country Singles chart that June, the first of four non-consecutive weeks there, and gave Owens his first chart-topper.