Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 ? September 6, 1984), nicknamed the "Texas Troubadour", was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941) marked the rise of the honky-tonk style of music. In 1948-49, he was the first singer to record a hit version of "Blue Christmas," a song more commonly associated with Elvis Presley and his mid-1950s version. Another well-known Tubb hit is "Waltz Across Texas" (1965), which became one of his most requested songs and is often used in dance halls throughout Texas during waltz lessons. In the early 1960s, he recorded duets with then-newbie Loretta Lynn, including their hit "Sweet Thang". Biography Tubb was born on a cotton farm near Crisp, Texas (now a ghost town in Ellis County, Texas). His father was a sharecropper, so Tubb spent his youth working on farms throughout the state. He was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and s