Cowboy Jack wrangles up a throwback children’s show

If you have a youngin, no bigger than a jackrabbit, pint-sized or knee-high, then you probably already know who Cowboy Jack is. And if not, well, listen up. He likes teaching the little ones about Texas in a fun way, and he has his sights set on Wimberley and the surrounding area.

He’s a parent himself, and what he and his wife were seeing on TV was not really to their liking when it came to entertainment for their youngin’s.

So they thought they could do better.

“We honestly just got tired of the TV, our son was getting hyper, because he’s watching the show and then also mimicking those goofy voices. We searched the internet to try and find something that was more along the style of the traditional children’s shows, Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, Reading Rainbow. When we watched them as children, we didn’t just start jumping up and dancing all around,” said John Havard, also known as Cowboy Jack.

The Texas State graduate and his wife Andrea decided to get creative and they came up with an idea. Why not try to do it themselves? Technology being what it is today, a good camera and a computer is basically all that is needed. With the COVID-19 lockdown, he had the away time from his full time job to try and record one they liked.

“We went down to the pond in our neighborhood, and shot an episode. My wife learned how to edit by watching YouTube videos, and we were pretty proud of the product. We showed friends and showed our song of course and everybody loved it so we just kept it going.”

When they finished and showed it to even more friends and neighbors, they were thrilled at the response.

“My wife contacted the local children’s museum in The Woodlands, and they said ‘You could come in and film before we open up’. We did that. And they looked at what we had made, and they were like, guys, this is really something... That’s when we kind of decided to make it a full-blown thing.”

People at the museum then had an idea. They decided to put some money into some advertising and marketing. They asked Cowboy Jack to host a virtual tour of their facility for their marketing materials.

“That’s when it all became real,” he said.

The Houston area is a major entertainment market and the tour was recorded by a professional crew, lights, cameras, the whole bit. The experience was a good one as they learned about audio and how professionals record a show.

“I do everything unscripted, and they had this script for me. I found out very quickly, I can’t do scripts.... We tried using the scripts for about 45 minutes until they got tired, and they let me just do my thing. I think the end product came out great.“

His everyday job is working for a company based in San Marcos that sells to chemical plants and industrial facilities. Having an alter-ego at first didn’t appeal to him: a Business Development Manager and Cowboy Jack. His company has been very understanding of his adventures.

“I wasn’t really excited about that. With my wife’s encouragement, that and a few other people, I just said, ‘you know what, I embarrassed myself all the time, I might as well do it for kids.’”

Now they have shot 35 episodes all over the state with 21 available on Youtube. They have over 4,000 subscribers. They are extremely excited about filming in Hays County, and even Wimberley, in the near future.

“We really want to visit Wimberley. Wimberley is a place that I would eventually love to retire. I have a special affliction for that town.”

Early next year he plans to visit Blue hole, Jacobs Well and other Wimberley landmarks.

“Those are absolutely beautiful natural wonders of the amazing state of Texas and Cowboy Jack wants to take kids all over the state on that same adventure. So we’re working on things like that.”

So if in the near future you see a cowboy, boots hat and all meandering around the Square, it probably wouldn’t mean much. That’s just not all that unusual in Wimberley. But if he looks like a kid’s show host with a one-person camera crew, it might be Cowboy Jack, fixin’ to take kids on a tour of Wimberley.

Cowboy Jack’s Facebook page is facebook.com/cowboyjackshow.