Ernest Dale Tubb was born in Crisp, Texas in 1914. He was the sixth person to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame and a regular performer on the Opry from 1943 to the time of his death. Ernest Tubb grew up a fan of the great Jimmie Rodgers. Though Tubb sang locally while he was still in his teens, he was almost twenty years old before he got his first guitar.
Tubb had little success until he wrote and recorded "Walking the Floor Over You" in 1942. This song became a million-seller and got him his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry in December of that year.In the following years, he became a regular member of the Opry. In 1947 he started his "Midnight Jamboree" program on WSM radio where he showcased the talents of up and coming country artists.
Tubb was regulary on the charts through 1969 with such hits as "Goodnight Irene" (with Red Foley in 1950), "I Love You Because," "Missing in Action," "Two Glasses Joe" (1954), "Half a Mind", "Thanks A Lot", "Mr. and Mrs. Used-To-Be" (with Loretta Lynn in 1964), and "Let's say Goodbye, Like We said Hello." Ernest Tubb and his Texas Troubadours played around 300 dates a year during that period.
When he died, on September 6, 1984, the whole of Music City mourned the man writer Chet Flippo once accurately described as "honky-tonk music personified."
