Born in Texas 97 Years Ago Today, the Grammy-Winning “Midnight Cowboy” Responsible for This 90s Country Sensation’s Breakout Hit

In 1996, 13-year-old LeAnn Rimes released the haunting ballad “Blue”, establishing herself as country music’s next big thing. The same year, Rimes took home a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Although most closely associated with Rimes, “Blue” was originally written and released in 1958 by country singer-songwriter and radio DJ Bill Mack. While Mack’s original version never quite took off, he would earn belated recognition thanks to Rimes. In 1997, he landed a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

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Today, we’re exploring the life and career of Bill Mack Smith Jr.

He was born in Shamrock, Texas, on this day (June 4) in 1929.

Bill Mack: Beloved DJ and “Friend of the Trucker”

Fascinated by radio from an early age, Bill Mack landed a cleaning job at the tiny station in his equally tiny Texas Panhandle hometown.

He eventually turned that position into a DJ gig, working at stations in Wichita Falls and San Antonio before landing on the overnight slot on WBAP-AM in Fort Worth in 1969.

Thanks to his unusually clear signal, Mack reached half the country, becoming a comforting voice for professional truck drivers spending long, lonely stretches on the road. U.S. truckers dubbed him the “Midnight Cowboy.”

“You could drive across state after state after state, without changing the station, and he’d talk to you for six hours every night,” Lon Helton, publisher of radio trade magazine Country Aircheck, told the New York Times. “Bill Mack became the friend of the trucker. He created that.”

Before retiring from radio in 2011, Bill Mack earned a spot in the DJ category of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. He was also honored as “Country Music DJ Of The Year”, “Mr. DJ USA”, and “Texas’ Number One Country DJ’” (for over 30 years.)

Mack’s Songwriting Success

In addition to his on-air legacy, Bill Mack penned country music hits for George Strait, Ray Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, George Jones, and more.

But his biggest hit came with LeeAnn Rimes’ multi-platinum version of “Blue”, a song he wrote and first recorded himself in 1958. Mack later offered the ballad to Patsy Cline, but she died in a 1963 plane crash before that happened.

Of the songwriting process, Mack said, “I wrote ‘Blue’ while picking my new guitar in my home in Wichita Falls, Texas. I was creating some note changes on the guitar when the song entered my mind. Although I wasn’t watching the clock, the melody and lyrics came to me in a completed form within 15 minutes. My wife at the time said, “That’s the best song I’ve ever heard! You need to record it as soon as you can!”

[RELATED: 3 of the Best Forgotten Country Songs of the 90s]

Bill Mack died in Irving, Texas, on July 31, 2020. The 91-year-old country music legend had been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 two days earlier, according to his family.

Featured image by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images