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

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 ...

musician. He is best known for his talking blues 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 w ...

, "

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 number ...

", 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 advertis ...

'' chart for 16 weeks in 1947. "Smoke" was the number-five song on ''Billboard's'' Top 100 list for 1947, and was number one on the country chart that year.

Life and career

He was born in

Ramsey, Illinois Ramsey is a village in Fayette County, Illinois, United States. The population was 911 as of the 2020 census. The village was named after Alexander Ramsey (1815–1903), an American politician, second governor of Minnesota. Geography U.S. Route ...

, United States. Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western swing king Spade Cooley, based in

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

. 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), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, and later had 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, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...

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

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

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 these films: * ''Tex Williams and His Western Caravan'' (1947) * ''Tex Williams and Orchestra in Western Whoopee'' (1948) * '' The Pecos Pistol'' (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 Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' 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 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 singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Illinois Comedians from Illinois 20th-century American comedians Country musicians from Illinois