Ernest Tubb: The Texas Troubadour

Rating:
Summary: Kind of depressing, but informative
Review: An exhaustively detailed biography, written by the head of the Country Music Foundation, which tracks ET from his early struggling years, onto his heyday as one of Decca's main cash cows, and through his decades of hard work and gradual decline. The writing is almost as dogged and linear as Tubb was during his years on the road -- not terribly elegant, literary or evocative, but the research is solid, including countless interviews with band members, industry movers, and Tubb relations. An authoritative resource for anyone who would like to find out how Tubb helped form the sound of hard country honkytonk in the early '40s, and how he later helped boost the careers of musicians such as Hank Snow, Hank Thompson and Loretta Lynn, and how Nashville eventually let him slide out of sight. Many of the details seems too depressing and tawdry to me, but it's still the story of a great man's life...

Rating:
Summary: Great biography of a Country music giant
Review: Ronnie Pugh has done an excellent job of describing a Country music legend. He told many of the ways that Ernest Tubb helped the Country music industry, and gave what I think is a fair and accurate account of the man himself. This book is a must for any Ernest Tubb fan, and for anyone who wants to learn more about this great artist and great man. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great biography of a Country music giant
Review: Ronnie Pugh has done an excellent job of describing a Country music legend. He told many of the ways that Ernest Tubb helped the Country music industry, and gave what I think is a fair and accurate account of the man himself. This book is a must for any Ernest Tubb fan, and for anyone who wants to learn more about this great artist and great man. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Good research and balance
Review: This book provides an excellent picture of Ernest Tubb. It's filled with detail about his life and his importance to the music industry, and it's an objective and balanced biography. The only thing I found odd was the lack of family interviews. I don't know how one can write a complete biography without talking to surviving family members.

Rating:
Summary: Good research and balance
Review: This book provides an excellent picture of Ernest Tubb. It's filled with detail about his life and his importance to the music industry, and it's an objective and balanced biography. The only thing I found odd was the lack of family interviews. I don't know how one can write a complete biography without talking to surviving family members.