Photo courtesy Texas Music Museum (1925----) Birthplace: Waco Genre: Country Western Influenced: scores of singers, including George Strait, Clint Black, Garth Brooks Other Sites: Official Home Page

The quintessential Texas country singer in the late forties and early fifties, Hank Thompson created the sound--and much of the attitude--that makes each new song by George Strait, Clint Black, and Garth Brooks so resonant. Thompson's style is a deft fusion of the most appealing Texas country traditions--western swing and honky tonk--an excellent fusion of Western swing danceability and honky tonk lyric and delivery.

Henry William Thompson was a lucky boy. When he was growing up in Waco he got to listen to a huge variety of music from the large collection of a friendly neighbor. All the great country singers were at his disposal--Vernon Dalhart, Jimmie Rodgers, and the Carter Family. On his tenth birthday he received a guitar, and set to learning what it was all about.

In 1942, while still in high school, he was knowledgeable enough, and musically talented enough, to have his own radio show on WACO-radio, "Hank the Hired Hand." While serving in the navy during World War II as an engineer, he entertained his shipmates with songs. He was inspired to begin writing his own songs when he ran out of material.

Upon his return to Waco in 1946 he formed the Brazos Valley Boys, which became a local favorite. Tex Ritter heard the group and recommended Thompson to his record company, Capitol, in 1947. The resulting song "I've Got a Humpty Dumpty Heart" rose to number 2 on the country charts, auspiciously launching a national recording career. Between 1948 and 1974 Thompson had 29 Top Ten hits.

The songs that Thompson is most remembered for, however, were recorded from 1951 and into the early sixties, beginning with "The Wild Side of Life," which was at the top of country charts for 15 weeks. "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is another classic. Thompson was also a trendsetter in costuming, dressing his bandmembers--among whom were Merle Travis and fiddlers Keith Coleman and Curly Lewis--in Nudie designer suits. His firsts include the first country stereo album (1958) and the first country artist to record a live album (1961).

Thompson continued to perform and record throughout the seventies and eighties, reviving his 1959 hit "A Six Pack to Go" in a duet with George Strait. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.