Speaking of true oldies, there is also another great 1947 hit song by Tex Williams (co-written by Merle Travis) called “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (that Cigarette)”.  The chorus goes:  “Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette / Puff, puff, puff, and if you smoke yourself to death / Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate / That you hate to make him wait / But you just gotta have another cigarette.”   Phil Harris – best known for his comedic talents and voiceover work these days, if at all – also had a hit with the song in 1947. 

(March 2013)

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This would be a good time to relate my recent purchase of a one-of-a-kind, three-disc album called Will the Circle be Unbroken (1972).  Unlike nearly all of the other rock and country collaborations that I know about, in this case the rockers hand the keys off to country music legends and let them drive.  Ostensibly (or even technically) a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, Wikipedia calls the album a “collaboration from many famous bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, ‘Mother’ Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete ‘Oswald’ Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others.  It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience.” 

(February 2015)