Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...

musician. He is best known for his

talking blues Talking blues is a form of folk music and country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict. Christopher Allen Bouchillon, billed as "The Talking Comedian of the South", is cr ...

style; his biggest hit was the

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...

, "

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" is a Western swing novelty song written by Merle Travis and Tex Williams, for Williams and his talking blues style of singing. Travis wrote the bulk of the song. The original Williams version went to numbe ...

", which held the number one position on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' chart 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. It can be heard during the opening credits of the 2006 movie, ''

Thank You for Smoking ''Thank You for Smoking'' is a 2005 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. It follows the efforts of Bi ...

''.

Life and career

He was born in Ramsey, Illinois, United States. Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western swing king

Spade Cooley Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American convicted murderer and former Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. In 1961 he was arrested and convicted for the Ap ...

, based in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

. Williams' backing band, The Western Caravan, numbered about a dozen members. They originally played polkas for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

, and later saw success with "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" written in large part by

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exp ...

. In April 1956, Williams appeared on the Chrysler-sponsored CBS TV broadcast, ''

Shower of Stars ''Shower of Stars'' (also known as ''Chrysler Shower of Stars'') is an American variety television series broadcast live in the United States from 1954 to 1958 by CBS. The series was broadcast in color which was a departure from the usual CBS p ...

''. Williams died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of pancr ...

on October 11, 1985.Kienzle, ''Southwest Shuffle'', p. 99: "In 1985, he died of pancreatic cancer (not lung cancer, as was widely reported)."

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) * ''

The Pecos Pistol ''The Pecos Pistol'' is a short 1949 American Western film directed by Will Cowan and starring Tex Williams, Smokey Rogers, and Barbara Payton. This is a black and white film, a partial remake of 1941 film '' Rawhide Rangers'' by Ray Taylor. P ...

'' (1949) * ''Tex Williams' Western Varieties'' (1951)

Discography

Albums

Singles

*^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

References

*Kienzle, Rich. ''Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz''. New York: Routledge, 2003. *Whitburn, Joel. ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits''. Billboard Books, 2006.

External links

* * Tex Williams at Allmusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Tex 1917 births 1985 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in California Western swing performers American country singer-songwriters People from Ramsey, Illinois American comedy musicians RCA Victor artists Capitol Records artists Shasta Records artists Liberty Records artists Monument Records artists 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Illinois Comedians from Illinois 20th-century American comedians Country musicians from Illinois