Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 – August 22, 2003) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

ian who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the

Western swing Western swing, country jazz or smooth country 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 att ...

and

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...

genres. Tillman was inducted into the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that i ...

in 1970 and the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

in 1984.

Biography

Early life

He was born in

Ryan, Oklahoma Ryan is a town in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States, located just north of the Texas state line. The population was 667 at the 2020 census. It is also known as the birthplace of Chuck Norris. Geography Ryan is north of the Red River, ...

, United States, and grew up in the cotton-mill town of

Post, Texas Post is a city in and the county seat of Garza County, Texas, Garza County, Texas, United States. Its population was 4,790 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to 2023 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a populati ...

as a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...

's son. One of his early jobs was with

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

as a

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

operator. In the early 1930s, Tilman played mandolin and banjo at local dances and eventually took up the guitar.

Musical career

Tillman moved to

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

played lead guitar with

Adolph Hofner Adolph John Hofner (June 8, 1916 – June 2, 2000) was an American Western swing bandleader and singer. Erlewine 1997 Larkin 1998 Biography Hofner was born into a family of Czech-German origin. He grew up listening to Czech and Hawaiian music ...

, a Western swing bandleader, and soon developed into a songwriter and singer. He took a job with

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

pop bandleader Mack Clark in 1938, and played with Western swing groups fronted by Leon "Pappy" Selph and Cliff Bruner. He also worked with Ted Daffan, and singer and piano player

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with ...

. Tillman recorded as a featured vocalist with Selph's Blue Ridge Playboys in 1938, the same year Floyd scored his first major songwriting hit, "It Makes No Difference Now", giving him his own

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

recording contract.

Jimmie Davis James Houston Davis (September 11, 1899 – November 5, 2000) was an American singer, songwriter, and Democratic Party politician. After achieving fame for releasing both sacred and popular songs, Davis served as governor of Louisiana from ...

purchased the song from Floyd for $300, the co-rights to which he got back 28 years later. Tillman's only No. 1 one song as a singer was " They Took the Stars Out of Heaven". It reached the top of the charts in 1944. Previously, he had reached No. 2 with "I'm Gonna Change All My Ways". His 1944 hit, "Each Night At Nine", struck a chord with lonely servicemen during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Axis Sally and

Tokyo Rose Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to all female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The programs were broadcast in the South Pacific ...

played it heavily to encourage desertion. A big hit for Tillman and also for

Jimmy Wakely James Clarence Wakely (February 16, 1914 – September 23, 1982) was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western ...

was 1948's " I Love You So Much It Hurts". His 1949 " Slippin' Around", one of the first country western "cheating" songs, was a hit for Tillman as well as

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), marked ...

, Texas Jim Robertson and the duo of

Margaret Whiting Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American singer of popular music who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard'', January 12, ...

and

. Tillman had another successful song with his own answer, " I'll Never Slip Around Again", as again did the Whiting-Wakely duo. He slowed down on his performing in the early 1950s, although he appeared on ABC-TV's '' Jubilee USA'' in 1958 and 1959. Tillman's final album, recorded in 2002 and 2003 titled ''The Influence'', paired him with country music artists who were influenced by his style and performing:

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

, Leona Williams,

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

, Justin Trevino, Ray Price, Frankie Miller, Hank Thompson,

Connie Smith Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity ...

, Lawton Williams,

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

, Darrell McCall, Johnny Bush and

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

. The project, released in April 2004, featured liner notes by Dr. Bill Malone, Bill Mack, Hank Thompson and

. It was produced by Justin Trevino on Heart of Texas Records. He was inducted into the

in 1970, and the

in 1984. Floyd Tillman died in August 2003, at the age of 88.

Singles

Selected works

References

External links

*
Country Music Hall Of Fame, 1984
* *
Floyd Tillman mp3s

Bibliography

* Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra & Stephen Thomas Erlewine (ed.) (2003)
All Music Guide to Country, 2nd ed., p. 750
', . * Richard Carlin (1995)
The Big Book of Country Music, A Biographical Encyclopedia, p. 458
', . * The Editors of Country Music (magazine) (1994)
The Comprehensive Country Music Encyclopedia, p. 387
', . * Barry McCloud (1995)
Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and Its Performers, p. 810-1
', . * Kurt Wolff (2000)
Country Music: The Rough Guide, p. 149-50
', . {{DEFAULTSORT:Tillman, Floyd 1914 births 2003 deaths People from Ryan, Oklahoma American country singer-songwriters Country Music Hall of Fame inductees RCA Victor artists Starday Records artists Liberty Records artists Decca Records artists Columbia Records artists People from Post, Texas 20th-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Country musicians from Texas Country musicians from Oklahoma