Tex Williams
| Tex Williams | |
|---|---|
 Williams in 1967. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sollie Paul Williams |
| Also known as | Tex Williams |
| Born | August 23, 1917 |
| Origin | Ramsey, Illinois |
| Died |
October 11, 1985 (aged 68) Newhall, California |
| Genres | Western swing, country |
| Occupation(s) | singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | guitar, Harmonica |
| Years active | 1946–1978 |
Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing musician from Ramsey, Illinois. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held the number one position on the Billboard charts for sixteen weeks in 1947. "Smoke" was the No. 5 song on Billboard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was No. 1 on the country chart that year.[1] It can be heard during the opening credits of the 2006 movie Thank You for Smoking.
Life and career
Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western Swing king Spade Cooley, based in Venice, California.
Williams' backing band The Western Caravan numbered about a dozen members. They attained an enviable level of fluid interplay between electric and steel guitars, fiddles, bass, accordion, trumpet, and other instruments (even an occasional harp). At first they recorded polkas for Capitol Records with limited success. That was changed by the success of "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" written in large part by Merle Travis.[2]
In April 1956 Williams appeared on the Chrysler-sponsored CBS TV broadcast "Shower of Stars".[3]
His final radio show was a lengthy conversation taped by Bill Aken's radio program The Country Call Line while Williams was in the Newhall, California hospital. His wife Dallas had asked Aken to call Williams in the hospital and try to cheer him up. He died two days later. Aken ran the entire hour and a half tape without commercial interruption, as a tribute to his long-time friend and former employer.
Williams died of pancreatic cancer on October 11, 1985.[4]
Filmography
Williams and 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)
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Country and Western Dance-O-Rama 5 | Decca | |
| 1960 | Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! | Capitol | |
| 1962 | Country Music Time | Decca | |
| 1963 | Live in Las Vegas | Liberty | |
| 1966 | A Voice of Authority | Imperial | |
| 1966 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | 26 | Boone |
| 1971 | A Man Called Tex | 38 | Monument |
| 1974 | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | Granite |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | |||
| 1946 | "The California Polka" | 4 | singles only | |
| 1947 | "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" | 1 | 1 | |
| "That's What I Like About the West" | 4 | |||
| "Never Trust a Woman" | 8 | |||
| 1948 | "Don't Telephone - Don't Telegraph (Tell a Woman)" | 2 | ||
| "Suspicion" | 4 | |||
| "Banjo Polka" | 5 | |||
| "Who? Me?" | 6 | |||
| "Foolish Tears" | 15 | |||
| "Talking Boogie" | 6 | |||
| "Just a Pair of Blue Eyes" | 13 | |||
| "Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It?" | 5 | 27 | ||
| 1949 | "(There's a) Bluebird On Your Windowsill" | 11 | ||
| 1965 | "Too Many Tigers" | 26 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | |
| "Big Tennessee" | 30 | |||
| 1966 | "Bottom of a Mountain" | 18 | ||
| "First Step Down" | singles only | |||
| "Another Day, Another Dollar in the Hole" | 44 | |||
| 1967 | "Crazy Life" | |||
| "Black Jack County" | 57 | |||
| "She's Somebody Else's Heartache Now" | ||||
| 1968 | "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke - '68" | 32 | ||
| "Here's to You and Me" | 45 | |||
| "Tail's Been Waggin' the Dog" | ||||
| 1970 | "Big Oscar" | A Man Called Tex | ||
| "It Ain't No Big Thing" | 50 | |||
| 1971 | "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down"A |
29 | ||
| 1972 | "Everywhere I Go (He's Already Been There)" | 67 | ||
| "Glamour of the Night Life (Is Calling Me Again)" | singles only | |||
| "Tennessee Travelin'" | ||||
| "Cynthia Ann" | ||||
| 1974 | "Is This All You Hear (When a Heart Breaks)" | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | ||
| "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" | 70 | |||
| "Bum Bum Bum" | ||||
| 1978 | "Make It Pretty for Me Baby" | single only | ||
- A"The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down" peaked at No. 27 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
Notes
- ↑ "Information Not Found". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
- ↑ "Tex Williams : Biography". CMT. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
- ↑ Disk Talent Feature of 'Stars' Show. Billboard Apr 14, 1956. page 36
- ↑ Kienzle, Southwest Shuffle, p. 99: "In 1985, he died of pancreatic cancer (not lung cancer, as was widely reported)."
References
- 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