Tex Williams
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Tex Williams (born Sollie Paul Williams) August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois. His popularity peaked in the late 1940s. Williams is perhaps best-known for this talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," which held the number one sales position on the Billboard charts for six weeks in 1947 and can also be heard during the opening scenes of the 2006 movie, Thank You for Smoking.
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) was the #5 song on BillBoard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was #1 on the Country chart that same year. [1]
Tex's backing band, the Western Caravan, was one of the best units of its kind. Numbering about a dozen members, it attained an enviable level of fluid interplay between electric and steel guitars, fiddles, bass, accordion, trumpet, and other instruments (even occasional harp). At first they recorded polkas for Capitol, with limited success. That was changed by the success of Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) written in large part by Merle Travis.[2]
He died of pancreatic cancer in October 1985.[1]
Williams, along with his band, the Western Caravan, appeared in the following films:
- Tex Williams and His Western Caravan (1947)
- Tex Williams & Orchestra in Western Whoopee (1948)
- Tex Williams' Western Varieties (1951).
Contents |
[edit] Discography
| Top 40 Hits. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Position | Title | Label |
| Spade Cooley & The Western Dance Gang (Tex Williams, vocals).[2] | |||
| 1945 | 1 | Shame On You | OKeh 6731 |
| 1945 | 8 | A Pair Of Broken Hearts | " |
| 1945 | 4 | I've Taken All I'm Gonna Take From You | OKeh 6746 |
| 1946 | 2 | Detour | Columbia 36935 |
| 1946 | 3 | You Can't Break My Heart | " |
| 1947 | 4 | Crazy 'Cause I Love You | Columbia 37058 |
| Tex Williams and His Western Caravan.[3] | |||
| 1946 | 4 | The California Polka | Capitol 302 |
| 1947 | 1 | Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) | Capitol Amer. 40001 |
| 1947 | 4 | That's What I Like About The West | Capitol Amer. 40031 |
| 1947 | 2 | Never Trust A Woman | Capitol Amer. 40054 |
| 1948 | 2 | Don't Telephone - Don't Telegraph (Tell A Woman) | Capitol Amer. 40081 |
| 1948 | 4 | Suspicion | Capitol 40109 |
| 1948 | 5 | Banjo Polka | Capitol 15101 |
| 1948 | 6 | Who? Me? | Capitol 15113 |
| 1948 | 15 | Foolish Tears | " |
| 1948 | 6 | Talking Boogie | Capitol 15175 |
| 1948 | 13 | Just A Pair Of Blue Eyes | " |
| 1948 | 5 | Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It? | Capitol 15271 |
| 1949 | 11 | (There's A) Bluebird On your Windowsill | Capitol 40225 |
| Tex Williams.'[4] | |||
| 1965 | 26 | Too Many Tigers | Boone 1028 |
| 1965 | 30 | Big Tennessee | Boone 1032 |
| 1966 | 18 | Bottom Of A Mountain | Boone 1036 |
| 1968 | 32 | Smoke, Smoke, Smoke | Boone 1069 |
| 1971 | 29 | The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel For Single Girls Burned Down | Monument 8503 |
- 1955 - Dance-O-Rama #5
- 1960 - Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!
- 1962 - Country Music Time
- 1963 - Tex Williams In Las Vegas
- 1966 - The Voice Of Authority
- 1971 - A Man Called Tex
- 1974 - Those Lazy Hazy Days
[edit] References
- ^ Kienzle, Southwest Shuffle, p. 99: "In 1985, he died of pancreatic cancer (not lung cancer, as was widley reported)."
- ^ Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 89.
- ^ Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 391.
- ^ Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 391.
[edit] Bibliography
- Kienzle, Rich. Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-94102-4
- Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1
