One For The Road: Happy Birthday, Tex Williams

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 23, 2012 10:40PM

Tex Williams, singer of the Rockabilly classic "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That cigarette" was born in Illinois on this date in 1917. Yes, that means "Tex" wasn't from Texas. The tune was written by Merle Travis, and Williams put it on top of the country charts in 1947.

Williams got his start in California in 1942 and worked as a singer for fiddler Spade Cooley. The two had a falling out, and Williams took the rest of the band with him, renaming it the Western Caravan. CMT writes:

At first they recorded polkas for Capitol, with limited success. They found their true calling when Williams' friend Merle Travis wrote most of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" for him, emphasizing Tex's talking-blues delivery and heavier boogie elements. The song was a monstrous commercial success in 1947, and indeed one of the biggest country hits of all time, making number one on the pop charts.

That set the model for several of Williams' subsequent hits: hot Western swing backup, over which Tex would roll his deep, laconic, easygoing narratives of humorous, slightly ridiculous situations. As enjoyable as these were, they were just one facet of the Western Caravan's talents. The outfit was also capable of generating quite a heat on boogie instrumentals and more straightforward vocal numbers in which Williams actually sang rather than spoke.

Attendees of weekly live performance The Paper Machete know this tune well. Host Christopher Piatt performs the tune every week, and we decided today would be the day to ask him why.

I've loved Smoke That Cigarette from the first time I heard it of a 1940s pop compilation CD I bought in high school. I do it every week because it's a high-spirited old standard, and because it's a great elocution exercise; it's a lot of words to spit out correctly. I don't actually even really smoke cigarettes, so I'm encouraging somebody else's habit.

You can see Piatt performing the song every Saturday afternoon at The Paper Machete. In the meantime, here's a video of Tex Williams performing "Smoke." The video isn't of the highest quality, since the video and audio are off, but it'll do.

Here's the tune featured in the opening credits of Thank You For Smoking.