Born on This Day in 1911, One of the First “Singing Cowboys” Who Shaped Ernest Tubb’s Career

From Gene Autry to Jimmie Rodgers to Roy Rogers, county music has a storied history of “singing cowboys”—crooning entertainers who regaled audiences with stories of the triumphs and tragedies that come along with the lifestyle. One of the originals, “Cowboy Slim” Rinehart, was born on this day (March 11) in 1911. Despite never recording a single record, Rinehart left his mark on the industry, pioneering the Texas country music scene and greatly influencing honky-tonk superstar Ernest Tubb.

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Cowboy Slim Rinehart, the King of Border Radio

Born Nolan Arthur Rinehart in Comanche County, Texas, the singer gained a reputation as the “King of Border Radio.” He built an audience performing hillbilly songs on XEPN, the “outlaw” radio station in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on the other side of the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass.

Also known as “border blasters”, the term “border radio” applied to super-powered radio stations that broadcast out of Mexico—thereby skirting U.S. broadcast laws.

Since these stations operated in Mexico, they could employ very strong signals that reached as far north as Canada. This gave Rinehart a significantly larger audience than he could have built on a conventional American radio station.

Rinehart  performed as part of the Good Neighbor Get-Together, which included musicians such as Patsy Montana, the original Carter Family, Doc Hopkins, Russ Pike, and the Modern Pioneers.

Another border radio juggernaut, Dallas “Slim Nevada Turner”, spoke of his admiration for Rinehart in a September 2002 interview with Furious.com.

“[Among] the cowboy singers, none was as great as Cowboy Slim Rinehart, as I keep telling you,” Turner said. “He was my idol and the one and only true king of border radio.”

He Never Made a Single Commercial Recording

Cowboy Slim Rinehart helped mold the careers of various musicians, including “Big Bill” Lister and Ernest Tubb. The latter tried persuading him to ink a deal with Decca Records and take his sound commercial. However, Rinehart was leery of the music industry and consistently refused. He also turned down multiple roles from Hollywood after executives told him he would need to change his last name to something less “German sounding.”

[RELATED: On This Day in 1941, Ernest Tubb Changed Country Music History with a Song He Wrote While His Wife Was Away]

In October 1948, Rinehart finally relented, scheduling a session at a recording studio in Michigan. Sadly, he would never make it there, dying in a car crash while en route to the appointment on Oct. 28, 1948. He was just 37 years old.

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