ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Tex Ritter

(Jan. 12, 1905 ~ Jan. 2, 1974 )

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliate: Town Hall Party

Grand Ole Opry Star

Band Name: Tex Ritter & His Texans

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Ed Sullivan Show, 4
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Green Grow the Lilacs, 1
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Jimmy Dean Show, 4
• The Johnny Cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4
• The Statler Brothers Show, 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4 

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 3
• Top-10 Singles: 14
• Crossover Singles: 3
• Charted Singles: 25
• Chart Years Active: 1944-1974

Awards

Country Music Association

• Country Music Hall of Fame -1964

Career Label:

• Capitol Records (1944-1974)

Billboard Top-10 Singles

1. I'm Wastin' My Tears On You* -1944
2. There's A New Moon Over My Shoulder
3. Jealous Heart
4. You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often* -1945
5. You Will Have to Pay*
6. Christmas Carols By the Old Corral
7. Long Time Gone -1946
8. When You Leave Don't Slam the Door
9. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
10. Rye Whiskey -1948
11. Deck of Cards
12. Rock and Rye
13. Daddy's First Letter (Private First Class John H. McCormick)
14. I Dreamed of A Hillbilly Heaven -1961

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I Dreamed of A Hillbilly Heaven: The Tex Ritter Story

Tex Ritter was a country music singer and screen actor. A major star in the 1930s and 1940s as western cowboy for PRC and Monogram, Ritter was also the father of actor John Ritter. Known as America's Most Beloved Cowboy, he went on to star at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee (TN). Along his wife, Dorothy Fay Southworth, he made four films: Song of the Buckaroo (Monogram, 1938), Sundown on the Prairie (Monogram, 1939), Rollin' Westward (Monogram, 1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (Monogram, 1940).

Ritter's charted songs include Rye Whiskey (1948), Jealous Heart (1944), You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often (1945), Rye Whiskey (1948) and I Dreamed of A Hillbilly Heaven (1961). Ritter's performance of High Noon, the title song for the 1952 Gary Cooper/Grace Kelly movie, is one of the classics of the film history. Tex Ritter performed in radio, television, approximately 75 western films, spending his later years with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN.  

Dedicated to preserving the history of country music, he spearheaded the effort to build the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Ritter was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1964 (as it's 5th member), ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the 1970 United States Senate race and was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame (Hall of Great Western Performers) in 1980.

Above - Tex Ritter, Arkansas Slim' Andrews and the Tennessee Ramblers in a tuneful moment outside the Texas Rangers' office from Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (Monogram, 1941).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell. Roots of Country Music. Mar. 25, 2011.