Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984),[2] nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music.

Tubb recorded duets with the then up-and-coming Loretta Lynn in the early 1960s, including their hit "Sweet Thang".

The youngest of five children, Tubb was born on a cotton farm near Crisp, in Ellis County, Texas, United States.

[5] He was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and spent his spare time learning to sing, yodel, and play the guitar.

In 1939, he moved to San Angelo, Texas and was hired to do a 15-minute afternoon live show on radio station KGKL-AM.

He drove a beer delivery truck to support himself during this time, and during World War II he wrote and recorded a song titled "Swell San Angelo".

Tubb headlined the first Grand Ole Opry show presented in Carnegie Hall in New York City in September 1947.

Not realizing how tall the Texas Troubadour was, the recording technicians at Decca had the sisters stand on a wooden box on one side of the one microphone they shared with Tubb so the audio would balance.

He told an interviewer that 95% of the men in bars would hear his music on the juke box and say to their girlfriends, "I can sing better than him," and Tubb added they would be right.

The two, who released seven albums together, maintained a friendly on-air "feud" over the years, and Tubb appeared on Foley's Ozark Jubilee on ABC-TV.

In 1957, he walked into the lobby of the National Life Building in Nashville in the early morning hours and fired a .357 magnum, intending to shoot music producer Jim Denny.

Drummer Jack Greene joined the Texas Troubadours in 1962 and eventually graduated to becoming Tubb's opening act and a standout country singer himself.

[14] Beginning in the fall of 1965, he hosted a half-hour TV program, The Ernest Tubb Show, which aired in first-run syndication for three years.

This long out-of-print duets album was re-released in 1999 as a CD on the First Generations label, on the 20th anniversary of its release, and it quickly went out of print again.

[3] In 1980, he appeared as himself in Loretta Lynn's autobiographical film, Coal Miner's Daughter with Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl.

He also had solo careers under several pseudonyms (Ronny Wade, X. Lincoln) and played with John Anderson, writing several songs with him.

[citation needed] Jack Greene, who played drums for the Texas Troubadours, went on to become a successful country music star following his departure from Tubb's band, recording the hits "There Goes My Everything" and "Statue of a Fool".

He went on to write more than 50 hit songs for more than two dozen country and rock music superstars, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, BJ Thomas, George Jones, Kentucky Headhunters, Charlie Pride, Ann Murray, and Kitty Wells.

The Ernest Tubb Record Store, founded in 1947, is still in operation in Nashville and is now owned by Robert's Western World.