Tex Williams

August 23, 1917 - October 11, 1985

Tex Williams was an American country musician from Ramsey, Illinois. He helped move rural and acoustic country music to dance-oriented mainstream pop Western swing. His popularity peaked in the late 1940s. Williams is perhaps best-known for this talking blues style; his biggest hit, the novelty song "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) is heard during the opening scenes of the hit movie Thank You for Smoking.
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) was the #5 song on BillBoard's Top 100 list for 1947, and was #1 on the Country chart that same year.
Tex's backing band, the Texas Caravan, was one of the best units of its kind. Numbering about a dozen members, it attained an enviable level of fluid interplay between electric and steel guitars, fiddles, bass, accordion, trumpet, and other instruments (even occasional harp). At first they recorded polkas for Capitol, with limited success. That was changed by the success of Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette) written in large part by Merle Travis.
Williams, along with his band, the Texas Caravan, appeared in the following films:
Tex Williams and His Western Caravan (1947)
Tex Williams & Orchestra in Western Whoopee (1948)
Tex Williams' Western Varieties (1951).

Discography:

1955 - Dance-O-Rama #5
1960 - Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!
1962 - Country Music Time
1963 - Tex Williams In Las Vegas
1966 - The Voice Of Authority
1971 - A Man Called Tex
1974 - Those Lazy Hazy Days