If you鈥檙e a fan of , or , cue up 鈥淭he Wild Side of Life鈥� on Sept. 3 to mark the 100th birthday of a fellow Texan who inspired them: Honky-tonk swing pioneer Hank Thompson.
The Waco-born singer-songwriter lived quietly for years in North Texas and died in Keller in 2007 at age 82. But in his heyday, Thompson rivaled the other Hanks (Williams and Snow) for popularity, charting 79 hits, including 鈥淲ild Side,鈥� his bluesy 1952 smash that inspired Kitty Wells鈥� answer song 鈥淚t Wasn鈥檛 God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.鈥� His career also served as a model for Crazy Heart, the Thomas Cobb novel which spawned the Oscar-winning 2009 film about a struggling country singer.
While his hits dried up by the early 鈥�80s, Thompson never stopped performing. Even in his later years, he still lit up Billy Bob鈥檚 and Sons of Hermann Hall, singing 鈥淎 Six Pack To Go鈥� with a voice as crystalline as ever.
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