Ernest Tubb is a Texas original
My first memory of hearing Ernest Tubb was one Christmas when a bunch of us boys were out gathered around a campfire listening to the radio through an open pickup window nearby. It was Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn singing a duet of “Has anybody seen my Sweet Thing?”
I since saw him in person at least once as he was a consummate honky tonk singer and entertainer. He could belt ’em out and he sang so bad it was good.
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This reminds me of when I was a kid we had a battery powered radio. The only time my Father listened to it was on Friday and Saturday night when the Louisianna Hayride and Grand old Opera was on. And if you wanted to talk or play you went outside because this was serious grown up time.
I can’t believe you did not mention that Ernest Tubb was from
San Angelo. Jamie Ellison’s (Big Laker) “stepmother” was his manager for years. After I left Big Lake & was teaching in Boyd, Tx. Tubbs’ name came up in class one day, & one of my students said, “Oh, he’s my grandmother’s brother.” Student’s name was Karen Arthur Ratliff. I saw him live in McKinney, Tx. at the Ritz theatre–probably summer of ’67 or ’68. I’ll never forget at intermission he stood in foyer of theatre & signed autographs while smoking a Camel; smoking probably had something to do with his gravelly voice. He was big—real big—1940s thru 1970s.
Actually, Ernest Tubb was born in Crisp, Texas (now a ghost town) in Ellis County. It was not until 1939 that he moved to San Angelo.
He had a tonsillectomy in that same year (1939) that drastically changed his voice, and he gave up singing for a time and concentrated on writing songs.
Along with the surgery, smoking probably did contribute to his gravelly voice, as well as his emphysema which caused his death in 1984.
As much as the followers of this site talk about the great dance halls of Texas, I bet most of them have danced a thousand miles to “Waltz Across Texas”, one of Tubb’s greatest hits.