Tex Williams
American singer-songwriter (1917–1985)
title: "Tex Williams" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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", "american-male-comedians"] description: "American singer-songwriter (1917–1985)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Williams" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American singer-songwriter (1917–1985) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Tex Williams |
| image | Tex Williams 1967.JPG |
| caption | Williams in 1967 |
| image_size | 220px |
| background | solo_singer |
| birth_name | Sollie Paul Williams |
| birth_date | |
| origin | Ramsey, Illinois, United States |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Newhall, California, United States |
| instrument | vocals, guitar, Harmonica |
| genre | {{Flatlist |
| occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| years_active | 1946–1978 |
| :: |
| name = Tex Williams | image = Tex Williams 1967.JPG | caption = Williams in 1967 | image_size = 220px | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Sollie Paul Williams | alias = | birth_date = | origin = Ramsey, Illinois, United States | death_date = | death_place = Newhall, California, United States | instrument = vocals, guitar, Harmonica | genre = {{Flatlist|
- Western swing
- country}} | occupation = Singer-songwriter | years_active = 1946–1978 | label = | website =
Sollie Paul "Tex" Williams (August 23, 1917 – October 11, 1985) was an American Western swing singer and musician. He is best known for his talking blues style; his biggest hit was the novelty song, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)", which held the number-one position on the Hot Country Songs 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, United States. Williams started out in the early 1940s as vocalist for the band of Western swing king Spade Cooley, based in Venice, California.
Williams' backing band, the Western Caravan, numbered about a dozen members. They originally played polkas for Capitol Records, and later had success with "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke", written in large part by Merle Travis.
In April 1956, Williams appeared on the Chrysler-sponsored CBS TV broadcast, Shower of Stars.
Williams died of pancreatic cancer on October 11, 1985.
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
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/TexWilliams.jpg" caption="Williams collection album cover" alt="Tex Williams collection album cover"] ::
::data[format=table]
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Country and Western Dance-O-Rama No. 5 | Decca | |
| 1960 | Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! | Capitol | |
| 1962 | Country Music Time | Decca | |
| 1963 | Voice of Authority | Imperial | |
| 1963 | Tex Williams in Las Vegas | Liberty | |
| 1966 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | 26 | Boone |
| 1971 | A Man Called Tex | 38 | Monument |
| 1974 | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | Granite | |
| 1977 | The Legendary Tex Williams: Then... Now | Corral | |
| 1996 | Vintage Collections: Tex Williams & His Western Caravan | Capitol | |
| :: |
Singles
::data[format=table]
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | US Country | US |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | "The California Polka" | 4 | singles only | ||
| 1947 | "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" | 1 | 1 | ||
| "That's What I Like About the West" | 4 | ||||
| "Never Trust a Woman" | 8 | ||||
| 1948 | "Don't Telephone – Don't Telegraph (Tell a Woman)" | 2 | |||
| "Suspicion" | 4 | ||||
| "Banjo Polka" | 5 | ||||
| "Who? Me?" | 6 | ||||
| "Foolish Tears" | 15 | ||||
| "Talking Boogie" | 6 | ||||
| "Just a Pair of Blue Eyes" | 13 | ||||
| "Life Gits Tee-Jus, Don't It?" | 5 | 27 | |||
| 1949 | "(There's a) Bluebird On Your Windowsill" | 11 | |||
| 1965 | "Too Many Tigers" | 26 | Two Sides of Tex Williams | ||
| "Big Tennessee" | 30 | ||||
| 1966 | "Bottom of a Mountain" | 18 | |||
| "First Step Down" | singles only | ||||
| "Another Day, Another Dollar in the Hole" | 44 | ||||
| 1967 | "Crazy Life" | ||||
| "Black Jack County" | 57 | ||||
| "She's Somebody Else's Heartache Now" | |||||
| 1968 | "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke – '68" | 32 | |||
| "Here's to You and Me" | 45 | ||||
| "Tail's Been Waggin' the Dog" | |||||
| 1970 | "Big Oscar" | A Man Called Tex | |||
| "It Ain't No Big Thing" | 50 | ||||
| 1971 | "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel | ||||
| for Single Girls Burned Down"A | 29 | ||||
| 1972 | "Everywhere I Go (He's Already Been There)" | 67 | |||
| "Glamour of the Night Life (Is Calling Me Again)" | singles only | ||||
| "Tennessee Travelin'" | |||||
| "Cynthia Ann" | |||||
| 1974 | "Is This All You Hear (When a Heart Breaks)" | Those Lazy, Hazy Days | |||
| "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" | 70 | ||||
| "Bum Bum Bum" | |||||
| 1978 | "Make It Pretty for Me Baby" | single only | |||
| :: |
- "The Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down" peaked at No. 27 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
References
References
- (1993). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
- "Tex Williams | Billboard".
- "Tex Williams : Biography". CMT.
- Disk Talent Feature of 'Stars' Show. ''Billboard'', April 14, 1956. p. 36
- Kienzle, ''Southwest Shuffle'', p. 99: "In 1985, he died of pancreatic cancer (not lung cancer, as was widely reported)."
- (October 13, 1985). "Country-Western Star Tex Williams, 68". Los Angeles Times.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::