The first time I met Cowboy Jack (whose real name is John Havard) in person, was at our bakery in Huntsville, in August of 2021 when he came to film an episode of his YouTube show. My grandson Duke was just getting to the age of watching a video here and there, and our family was desperately looking for good content for him. We stumbled on this show called “The Cowboy Jack Show.” The show was a low key, calm, informative program, and Cowboy Jack was a man who spoke with a regular voice and didn’t have a lot of gimmicks. He was down to earth and could really pique Duke’s interest.
We became mega-fans as we got to know John and excitedly watched his show take off, get picked up on multiple platforms, and his viewership soar on the socials. We even got him to make a repeat appearance at the bakery for a gingerbread house making episode a year later. John’s the real deal. He’s devoted to his family and wants to put out fun, educational, and quality programming. I know you’ll love getting to know him.
We were always one of those families who said we weren’t allowing our kids to watch TV. Then Covid happens, and I’m home with my young child and my wife, spending a lot of time together and Daddy’s got to work, so we’re turning on the TV! My son really gravitated to these big, flashy, crazy wild shows. I kept telling my wife Andrea there’s got to be something better out there. Why can we not find something like Captain Kangaroo or Mr. Rogers, just something of a slower pace. I just kept talking about it, and eventually she said, “Well, if you hate it so much, why don’t you make your own show?” So, we did.
When we started Cowboy Jack, we had our son Caden and my wife Andrea had just given birth to our daughter Addison, who is now 5 1/2 years old, and Caden just turned 8. It amazing we’ve been doing Cowboy Jack all these years.
Oh yeah, it’s really huge. My cameraman is Andrea. My editor is Andrea. My publisher is Andrea. My creative director is Andrea. My scheduler is Andrea. The brains of the operation is Andrea. Then there’s this guy named John who wears a big funny hat and does all the talking.
I’m actually in a very significant bind on the outfit, because the shirt is a Levi’s brand. When we first started, I bought two of those shirts. I am down to one. I have launched a global search through my network, and we cannot find another. There will come a time where we have to have to pick a new shirt.
Home is in Montgomery, Texas, and since Cowboy Jack is not the sole provider for the family, we have to be cognizant of how far we can get away from home to film. We have to manage how it fits into our regular work schedules. We’re heavily concentrated in the Houston Metroplex and the East Texas side of things, but we have filmed shows as far as San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. We actually had a great opportunity this year to travel to North Carolina to film with the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission.
Some I think are going to just be explosive don’t really do anything, then something so simple can take off like crazy. Personally, my favorite experience was filming with Life Flight on top of Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Houston Medical Center (I have a special place in my heart for first responders). I got to meet a flight nurse, Ryan Price, and spent some time with him talking about the actual helicopter, what they do, and how they do it in the air. That was an incredible experience. We also got to film with the Houston Texans. We got to go in the stadium and learn some cheers with the cheerleaders. That was fun.
Those experiences are great, but surprisingly, they didn’t drive a lot of views. Sometimes what drives the views are things as simple as me giving my dog a bath. Things resonate with kids differently, and you just never know where that’s gonna take you.
Yeah, that was really cool. I have a good friend who happens to know Shiny Ribs, (whose actual name is Kevin Russell.) He’s been one of my Texas country music heroes for a long time. I was telling my friend I really needed a theme song, and she said she had an idea. The next thing I know, she’s telling me she talked to her friend, and he wanted to make my theme song. I asked her who it was. I was like, “The Kevin Russell, like Shiny Ribs?” and she was like, “Yeah.” That’s the theme song I have still to this day. I can’t get enough of it. I love it.
Everything we do is unscripted. We show up on location, and I just roll with it, and Andrea chases me around with a camera. I think kids appreciate that authenticity. But this one time we were filming, and I took my hat off to scratch my head, and I just thought, I bet my hair looks funny. So, I just made a thing out of it. Kids really liked that, and they were mimicking it at home. Now I do it in almost every episode.
My first celebrity appearance was when I came and filmed at the bakery in Huntsville, and Cowboy Duke was really the first little cowboy fan I ever got to meet. I showed up, and he was dressed to the nines and ready to meet me, and that was literally my first encounter with somebody recognizing me.
It still happens to this day, and it’s fun. If anybody ever recognizes me, please come and say, “Hi.” That absolutely makes me feel ten feet tall. I love that so much.
In life, I’m always trying to make people laugh. I’m always trying to be the center of attention. The show gives me the opportunity to do that in a wholesome way. I think it’s because I try to be relatable, to be down to earth. And kids may think I’m cool because I’m Cowboy Jack, and they think they’re meeting a celebrity or something, but, you know, when I take the hat off, I’m really just a normal suburban dad.
My son is a really great baseball player, so we’re very involved in his Little League, but we like to sneak off and go fishing every chance we get. Also, I am a Native American artifact nut, and I love to get out there and go hunt for arrowheads whenever I can.
We’re on almost every platform now. We just got picked up by Pluto TV. The easiest way to find us is YouTube Kids and YouTube, but we’re also on Amazon Prime, Yippee TV, and other platforms. I also have a good Facebook and Instagram following, and I post as Cowboy Jack there.
We’re going global. We’re trying a lot of different things, including a book series. We just got it translated into Portuguese and Spanish, and Farsi is coming soon. We’re doing a lot of things to try to globalize Cowboy Jack, especially in countries that really like cowboys. And we are going to stay here in Texas and keep doing our thing.
Yes, if you are a business owner and think something is cool kids would like to see, reach out to me. It could be as simple as being a librarian or working in a post office or working in a welding shop. I would love the opportunity to get kids exposure into skilled trades. I think that’s a big part of our country’s trajectory for the future.
