In the Know – John Schneider
There’s nothing quite like learning from a Duke to gain perspective on RV life.
Image Caption: Photo by Taylor Rogers
We caught up with actor, singer, songwriter, director, philanthropist, and RVer John Schneider. With mile-long credentials in a diverse career, John is most famous as Bo Duke from the TV series “Dukes of Hazzard,” who jumped into living rooms via tube TVs in an orange 1969 Dodge Charger. The action-comedy aired from 1979–1985 and was among the top-rated television series. He went on to star in “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “then,” said John, “I sunk my teeth into Jonathan Kent in ‘Smallville’ and Jim Cryer in ‘The Haves and the Have Nots.’”
John has been singing professionally since the early 1980s, and somewhere in his spare time between filming “Dukes,” he did a remake of Elvis Presley’s “It’s Now or Never,” which was released on John’s ’81 debut album, and was a top-five hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. He then moved on to do five albums with MCA Records, and four of his 10 singles made it to number 1.
In 2016, John and his wife, Alicia Allain, lost their Louisiana home due to a flood, which launched them into getting on the road and back into performing. The couple spends about half their time traveling the US in their Freightliner-based Jayco Seneca. They have produced 12 films, 130 singles, and 20 festivals, plus hold events on their Holden, Louisiana, compound, which is also a hands-on moviemaking and teaching facility. They have 13 camping spots and plan on growing that to 50 in the next year. The latest movie from John Schneider Studios and MAVEN Entertainment, “Poker Run,” features songs that John co-wrote.
John is co-founder of Children’s Miracle Network that to date has raised $8 billion for children’s hospitals throughout the US and Canada.
His book My Life, My Way is about “my belief that we all have something we are built/designed to do and that if we aren’t currently doing it we better get on the right track ’cause we are wasting time. Life is too short to be a ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ person.”
Photo by Taylor Rogers
Have you always “lived” in an RV while working?
I have been using an RV when working/traveling since ’82. I would pull up to the set of a television show or a movie in my Lance cab-over camper or my Coachmen fifth-wheel and always be first on the set the next morning because I slept in my own bed in the parking lot. Believe it or not, the Coachmen had a workout bench and a tanning bed up in the front!
Alicia grew up with her summers in all sorts of campers, including a Brougham [motorhome]. I purchased my Alfa See Ya! [motorhome] while working on Broadway in the musical “Chicago.” I opted to stay at the Jersey City campground with my front window facing the Statue of Liberty. The limo driver would pick me up and drop me off every day saying, “This is the first time I’ve ever taken someone from the stage door to a house on wheels in a parking lot!” Give me a campground over even a 5-star hotel any night!
Favorite childhood memory?
Double features at the Mt. Kisco Theater [New York] every Saturday.
Tell us about playing guitar and wanting to sing.
My first guitar teacher was my dad. He played great. I still play a little riff for friends to show off and I say, “These are my dad’s chords!”
I did community and school theater for as long as I can remember. Mostly musicals. I even went to a theater camp in Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, called Beginners Showcase. I’ve always loved singing and acting and mostly did both at the same time until “Dukes.” Now I sing mainly Southern rock. Our music is high energy and makes you want to get up on your feet and join in.
Your favorite part about traveling and singing?
It’s our creative time. It also allows us to spend more time in communities, shop, and get to know people. Alicia always travels with me. We sometimes argue about who gets to drive!
Have you ever lost your voice because of singing so much?!
I recorded a Keith Burns song called “Drinking Buddy” that has a particularly high note at the end of the last chorus. I had to do it three or four times until it was just right. I could hardly speak for the next four days … and I had three concerts! Believe it or not … I can still sing even when I can’t talk.
RVs that evoke a particularly great memory?
One of my first memories was traveling to Vermont to go skiing with my family in a Travco [motorhome]. Seems to me I got bounced out of the bunk on a bumpy road!
When I traveled to Laredo, Texas, from Hollywood to do Eddie Macon’s Run with Kirk Douglas I had a Vogue [motorhome]. Thank God gas was cheap because I remember that thing ate a lot of fuel.
Alicia and I have put 67,000 miles on the Jayco Freightliner in a little over a year and a half. Also, we have Alicia’s passion project, a 1980 Blue Bird [Class A motorhome], a true time capsule.
One of the craziest things that has happened to you while traveling in an RV?
I woke up in a camping spot somewhere in New Mexico one morning and had no idea how I could have possibly gotten in the spot. There was a cliff on one side and a tree on the other. It’s amazing how you can pull those things into tight places in the dark.
What has been your favorite character to play in a TV show/movie?
I have considered myself a storyteller/filmmaker since about the age of eight (I had a Super 8 camera and shot movies 50 feet at a time). My favorite role is whatever current film we are working on. I am loving our Stand On It movie series—three action-packed “Southern horsepower comedies” that will have you laughing until you hurt and getting speeding tickets before you know it!
A favorite singer (besides yourself, of course!)?
Johnny Cash told stories and sang about them better than anyone I’ve ever known.
Who inspires you?
Alicia first and foremost. That gal is as tough as a Waffle House steak! After that, I will almost always meet someone at a show or on a set who makes me want to work a little harder. Sing a little longer.
I also pay attention to life. That will often inspire a scene in a script, a line of dialogue, or, sometimes, a whole script. I wrote “One Month Out” after having dinner with an old friend. She told me something personal that had happened to her and I said, “Well … that just cost me several months of my life. I have to write that movie!” I did, and Alicia and I made a fantastically odd dark comedy about Alzheimer’s.
Some of the bumps in the road you’ve hit?
Alicia was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer … later, she beat her supposed fate, and now we are not only touring musically, but we have a traveling roadshow called Bo’s Extravaganza where we host a stunt show and we both dirt track race. Since Alicia and I were already used to putting thousands of miles on our Freightliner, during the pandemic we went to the two places that were still thriving … drive-in theaters and dirt tracks. Our RV lifestyle enabled us to keep going and was actually a blessing in disguise.
Some of your other passions?
We are about inspiring people to fall back in love with their hometown and their country. Get to know each other and support mom-and-pop businesses … those are critical because when you have a community, it can weather any storm. Heck, we are a mom-and-pop—if our fans didn’t purchase merch, watch our movies, listen to our music, or attend our events then there would be no “us.” My fan base is over 43 years old and many of them I know by name; for heaven’s sake, I know their grandchildren’s names!
We’ve rescued dogs from shelters—Gravy was the last one adopted, and at that time we had Biscuit, Gravy, Gumbo, Stormy, and Dixie.
Also, we have a song that a portion of the proceeds go to the St. Christopher Truckers Relief Fund, another one I HATE CANCER for education about the disease, and Cajun Navy for flood victims after we experienced the horrific flood in 2016.
Some of the things you are thankful for?
Alicia. Passion. Perseverance. Having a dream. Curiosity about whatever is out there on the horizon through our windshield.
