Biography

Thank God for giving us Ernest Tubb, who had the foresight to make Country Music what it is today for all of us.
-Pete Drake

Ernest Tubb should be declared a national monument. That grand, old man is a walking repository of all that’s good about country music. And he still takes it on the road 300 days a year, at the age of 65. He is even more to be admired for personally preserving country music’s integrity, in an era when some country singers are fleeing to Hollywood and the places where the big bucks are. Tubb refuses to compromise in his music. No slick Hollywood productions for Mr. Tubb. He still plays and sings straight from the heart – real country music, the sagas and the vignettes of real life.

His contributions to country music, and in fact to all American music, are immeasurable. He was the first to fight the record companies when they tried to call country music “Hillbilly Music” and he rightly said that it should just be called “Americana” or “American Music”, for that’s what it is.

He was also the first country singer to record in Nashville and was one of the first, if not the first country musician, to use electric guitar and use drums on the Grand Ole Opry.

Ernest Tubb was born February 9, 1914, on a farm near Crisp, Texas, prime ranchland in Ellis County south of Dallas. The land was rich but the people were poor. During the Depression, Tubb’s family moved to San Antonio, where Ernest landed a job as a soda jerk. He had already started singing and playing guitar, inspired by the great Jimmy Rodgers.

Despite the Depression, Tubb was determined to become a professional singer. He knocked on the doors of all the radio stations and eventually persuaded station KONO to let him on the air for two fifteen-minute shows twice a week at 5:30 in the morning. It wasn’t the Grand Ole Opry, but it was a foot in the door. Although he never got to meet his hero, Jimmie Rodgers, who had lived in nearby Kerville, Ernest patterned his style after the Blue Yodeler. In 1935, he met Rodgers’ widow, Carrie, who gave him one of Rodgers’ guitars and helped him get on a concert tour, and eventually get a recording contract with RCA Victor. He recorded “Jimmie Rodgers’ Last Thoughts” and “The Passing of Jimmie Rodgers” at San Antonio’s Texas Hotel. Trying to copy Jimmie Rodgers was the only musical mistake Ernest Tubb ever made. In the late thirties, he began to discover his own style, a deceptively-lazy sounding brand of honky tonk music.

He became the master of it. Even Bing Crosby recorded a version of Tubb’s “Walkin’ The Floor Over You.” There is not a true-blue Texan anywhere who won’t stand and cheer when Ernest sings “Waltz Across Texas”.

Ernest Tubb is honky-tonk music personified. If I could be a country singer, I’d want to be Ernest Tubb. Since I can’t be, I’ll listen to his records. I don’t know about you, but the first place I visit every time I come to Nashville is not the Grand Old Opry. It’s the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

Chet Flippo (Rolling Stone Magazine)

Contact info@creativeanddreams.com for more information about Ernest Tubb

Releases

Ernest Tubb “Last Sessions” is a must have for those who appreciate old-school country ❀ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♩ ♪ ❤ ｡◕‿◕｡ ☀ ツ Ernest Tubb is one of the great early male country singers whose raw and gritty voice aged well, like fine wine. If you are a fan of Webb Pierce, Lefty Frizzell, etc. all from the early era of county music, you will be happy to have added this rich collection of Ernest Tubb’s greatest hits to your collection. Imagine listening to this music on a cross-country road trip; especially driving across the open plains of the great State or Texas. Ernest Tubb had a way of drawing the listener into the music … listening to the timeless harmonious music of “Last Sessions,” you will feel fortunate that you own this music and have added an Ernest Tubb’s “must have” to your classic-country music collection. Enjoy! … “Thanks a lot” —James J Harp

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I grew up listening to Ernest Tubb on the old 78rpm record player of dads. Liked the songs and knew several from the 50’s. Most artists I seem to like better after they have aged a few years. Like Merle Haggard and also Ray Price. I read a review about a person liking the later releases also. I would have to agree with them. Some of the singers just get better with age and I would say that Ernest Tubb is one of them. I have several of his older albums but the Last Sessions is my favorite! –Ernest Tubb fan:

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