Country music singer who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. He acted in films including Duel in the Sun.
He learned to play guitar, trumpet, and ukulele as a boy and would perform at local dances as a teenager.
He was a regular on the 1950s Los Angeles country music television series, Town Hall Party.
He was part of a poor farming family.
His first big break was working for Jimmy Wakely in the 1930s.
