Hall of Famer: Ernest Tubb

Another in my series of brief overviews of the performers in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Name: Ernest Dale Tubb

Born: February 9, 1914, Crisp, Texas

Died: September 6, 1984, at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, of emphysema

Also Known As: The Texas Troubadour

Year Inducted: 1965

Also Inducted In: Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame, 1970 (initial induction class); Texas Country Music Hall of Fame (1999)

In 1965 the Country Music Association inducted one of country music's most beloved and significant performers, Ernest Tubb.

Ernest Tubb was born in Texas in 1914 on a farm outside of the town of Crisp. At the age of 14 Tubb heard the music of Jimmie Rodgers and was immediately drawn to the sounds of the "Mississippi Blue Yodeler." When Tubb landed his first performing job in 1936 on a station in San Antonio, he contacted Rodgers' widow Carrie and expressed his love of Rodgers' music and its influence on him. The two became friends and Carrie gave Tubb access to Rodgers' memorabilia including his famous guitar.

In 1938 Tubb suffered a terrible tragedy. His seven-week-old son, Rodger (named for Jimmie Rodgers), was killed in a car wreck. Tubb poured out his grief in his classic song "Our Baby's Book."

Tubb's work at mimicking Rodgers was less than successful; worse, he underwent a tonsillectomy that changed his singing voice to a lower register. These two things forced Tubb to change his act to original songs, and that change proved to be most successful.

In 1940 Decca Records signed Tubb, who had gained local popularity thanks to his live shows, to a deal. Songs that Tubb penned became hits for the singer included "I'll Get Along Somehow" and the song he wrote for his wife, "Blue Eyed Elaine." The latter became so popular that even Gene Autry did a version of it in 1941.

In 1941 Tubb would score his biggest hit with his song "Walking the Floor Over You." It would be his theme song for the remainder of his life. The popularity of the song landed Tubb roles in the western film Fighting Buckaroos, where he performed the tune.

By 1943 Tubb left Texas for Nashville and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. His hits continued: "A Soldier's Last Letter," "Filipino Baby," and "Rainbow At Midnight" were all massive hits thanks to their themes tied to World War II.

Other hits for Tubb in the 40s included the first massively successful version of the song "Blue Christmas." Although now primarily associated with Elvis Presley, it was in fact Tubb who had the first major hit with the song in 1949.

By the mid-1940s Ernest Tubb was unquestionably one of country music's biggest superstars. He toured continually with his band, the Texas Troubadours. He became a trendsetter in music in two regards. First, he was the first act to utilize an electric guitar on the Grand Ole Opry. Prior to Tubb all instruments onstage were acoustic. The other historic first was Tubb introduced the tour bus to the world of music. Until Tubb musicians toured in their own cars, sometimes pulling a trailer with the instruments and clothes for the band. Tubb insisted on using his own musicians on personal appearance shows instead of hiring local talent, as was frequently the case when stars toured, so he purchased an old school bus for his band. It was the first of several buses Tubb would own.

As Tubb's popularity increased he felt he had the clout to address something to which he strenuously objected, that being the term "hillbilly" in describing the music. He later said that Red Foley (a future duet partner) also didn't like the term, but Tubb was brave enough to voice his displeasure. He told an executive at his record label, Dave Kapp, that he didn't care for his music being labeled as "hillbilly." When asked what name they should give it instead, Tubb replied, "I don't know, but must of us are from the country originally. Call it country music. Decca Records agreed and began labeling Tubb's music "country and Western" (the "western" half to describe acts such as the Sons of the Pioneers, who had a distinctly different sound). By the early 1950s the term "hillbilly music" had all but disappeared from trade papers and record companies' catalogs.

The name problem solved, Tubb encountered another issue. While on personal appearance tours his fans continually came to him and told him they were unable to find his records in local stores. The name "hillbilly" may have been gone but the stereotype of the music being "second class" was still firmly in place among many record store owners.

Tubb decided the only way to resolve the issue was to start his own mail-order record business in Nashville. He opened the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in May of 1947 to accommodate his fans who couldn't otherwise purchase his records. Located on Broadway just a block from the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry was held, Tubb managed to do a brisk business from all of the country music fans coming from out of town to see the Opry.

Shortly after he opened the record shop he decided to start another tradition. After the Opry finished at midnight on Saturday night Tubb took to a small stage in the back of the record shop for a free show called the "Midnite Jamboree." WSM, the radio station that broadcast the Opry, also carried the Midnite Jamboree after the Opry. Every Saturday night stars from the Opry would walk to the store and sing on the show and sign autographs for the fans. As with the Opry, the crowds frequently overflowed the store, leading people to stand outside on the sidewalk and watch through the window.

The massive success of Tubb's record shop eventually led other country singers, from Eddy Arnold to Charlie Louvin to Roy Acuff, to open their own record shops. All the others faded away, and to this day the Ernest Tubb Record Shop remains the largest in-store collection of country music in the world.

By the early 1950s Ernest Tubb had teamed up with another Decca Records superstar, Red Foley, for a series of albums. Their material ranged from novelty acts such as a cover of Homer and Jethro's "Tennessee Border #2" to serious songs such as "Goodnight Irene." In the mid-50s one of Decca's new acts, Teddy and Doyle Wilburn, backed Tubb on several numbers. The Wilburn Brothers would go on to a successful career and a landmark television program.

During the 1960s Tubb again teamed up with one of country music's brightest young female stars, Loretta Lynn, for a series of duets. They recorded three albums together and had numerous hits such as "Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be" and "Sweet Thang." In the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter Tubb played himself as Loretta Lynn's early duet partner.

When 1964 inductee Tex Ritter announced Ernest Tubb's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1965 he pointed out Tubb's unfailing assistance to acts Tubb felt was worthy of a shot at success. "To the struggling artist," Ritter said, "his hand is always extended." A number of former members of Tubb's band, the Texas Troubadours, enjoyed a career apart from Tubb, including Cal Smith (of "Country Bumpkin" fame), Jack Greene ("There Goes My Everything") and steel guitar legend Jerry Byrd.

Tubb thought nothing of allowing a performer who had arrived in Nashville chasing the elusive dream of country music stardom a chance to perform on the Midnite Jamboree. The stage was frequented with unknown performers as often as Opry stars, another one of Tubb's traditions that continues to this day.

By 1982 the effects of years of smoking were taking a heavy toll on Ernest Tubb. After 50 years of performing and touring he was forced to quit because of his failing health.

By the time Tubb made his final recording, in August of 1982, he was forced to lie down between takes. Oddly enough, his idol, Jimmie Rodgers, had also rested on a cot in the studio between takes of his final recording sessions in 1933.

Tubb was admitted to Baptist Hospital in August 1984 because of his chronic emphysema. He died September 6, 1984 with former band members and grandchildren at his side.

Everything in Ernest Tubb's life was sadly not rosy. In addition to the tragedy of losing his son in 1938 Tubb was married twice. He and his second wife, Olene, were separated for nearly a decade at the time of Tubb's death. Holding a grudge because he would not divorce her, she refused to allow a marker to be placed on Tubb's grave lest anyone find it and pay tribute. She never donated anything to the Country Music Hall of Fame for the museum to have an artifact of Ernest Tubb, meaning the scant items from Tubb they have are things that Tubb actually donated himself.

Tubb was also a notorious drunk in his earlier days. One of the most infamous stories in Nashville history is the time in 1957 that Tubb, upset over what he felt was an attempt to undermine the Jimmie Rodgers festival in Meridian Mississippi by talent director and former Opry manager Jim Denny (the man who in 1954 infamously told Elvis to "go back to driving trucks"), went to the WSM studios at the National Life and Accident Insurance Building with a gun. Tubb, very drunk and upset over the fiasco in Meridian for which he solely blamed Denny, was intent on confronting the talent director. The security guard tried to stop Tubb, who fired the gun in the lobby. No one was hit, but Tubb was arrested and charged with drunk and disorderly conduct. Although Tubb was able to mend his ways later in life, many recall that Tubb drunk and sober was Jekyll-and-Hyde.

One of Ernest Tubb's biggest hits was "Thanks A Lot." Although the song was a lost love song ("I've got a broken heart, that's all I've got"), that was Ernest Tubb's favorite thing to say to his fans (along with the phrase he closed the Midnite Jamboree with every week, "Be better to your neighbors and you'll have better neighbors, doggone ya!"). In fact, he had the word thanks written on the back of his guitar, and at the conclusion of a show he would turn the guitar over to show the word and tip his hat to the audience. A statue commemorating this famous action is on display at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Music Valley Drive in Nashville. Also on display is "the Green Hornet," Tubb's final touring bus, and memorabilia from his career as well as many of his fellow performers.

Ernest's son, Justin, was a singer/songwriter on his own. While his career paled in comparison to his father's as a recording artist, Justin Tubb wrote many major hits including "Lonesome 7-7203" and "Love is No Excuse." Justin Tubb died January 24, 1998 of a stomach aneurysm.

Ernest Tubb's legacy continues every time someone uses the phrase "country music." More than that, the music continues to entertain new fans. The world of country music can only say, as the title of one of Justin Tubb's songs about his father said, "Thanks, Troubadour, Thanks."

In 1996 the most comprehensive biography of Ernest Tubb, Ernest Tubb: The Texas Troubadour was published by Duke University Press. The 456-page book was penned by historian and longtime Tubb fan Ronnie Pugh.

In 1989 a video biography, Thanks, Troubadour, Thanks: The Ernest Tubb Story was released. It is available at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.