Ask American Profile

James Taylor & the Dixie Chicks, David Morse, Ernest Tubb

Earlier this year, I saw a man singing with the Dixie Chicks on CMT. Could you please tell me who he is?
—S.P., Wisconsin

That was none other than pop music icon James Taylor (Fire and Rain, You’ve Got A Friend, Up On The Roof) joining the Texas trio onstage for CMT Crossroads, a show that pairs country music stars with singers from other musical genres. For the Chicks, performing with Taylor was a lifelong dream come true. “My mom and dad love James Taylor, so we listened to him on road trips to Colorado and it’s definitely the soundtrack to my life as well,” says Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines. “I remember when I saw him for the first time live—I was in high school in Dallas at the Starplex—and I had always known that this was what I wanted to do. This is so awesome, the sound of the crowd in the middle of every single song. I just had constant chills for two hours and I think that was a turning point in my life. I think that show changed my life.” Taylor, in turn, is flattered by the Chicks’ compliments. “It’s gratifying to hear that,” he says. “One of the nicest things is people telling you that your music struck a chord or resonated with them.”

David Morse of Hack is one of my favorite dramatic actors. What can you tell me about him?
—Janette S., Texas

Hack isn’t David Morse’s first series. He played Dr. Jack Morrison on St. Elsewhere, which aired from 1982 to 1988. Morse, 50, has built up an impressive list of credits over the course of his career. He made his film debut in Inside Moves and has co-starred in The Green Mile, Proof of Life and Contact. Although he’s made movies with Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe and Sean Connery, Morse says the theater is his first love. He made his Broadway debut in On the Waterfront. He went on to win the Drama League Award, the Drama Desk Award and an Obie for his starring role in an off-Broadway production of How I Learned to Drive. He worked in more than 30 productions with the Boston Repertory Company from 1971 to 1977. Morse was born in Massachusetts and now lives in Philadelphia, where Hack is filmed, with his wife and children—twin sons and a daughter. He and his wife decided to move to Philly to be closer to his wife’s family after the 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles destroyed their home.

Ernest Tubb was a great singer of the honky-tonk style. Can you tell me when he died and where he was from originally?
—Frank G., Illinois

The honky-tonk legend known as the Texas Troubadour was born in Crisp, Texas, in 1914. At age 15, he heard a record by Jimmie Rodgers, often referred to as the Father of Country Music. Tubb was floored by the music and immediately bought a guitar and learned how to play it. At age 22, he made a trip to meet Rodgers’ widow, who was so impressed by the young musician that she gave him one of her husband’s guitars and helped him get a recording session with a small record label. Though it took a while, Tubb’s career finally took off, with his signature hit, Walking The Floor Over You, selling an amazing 400,000 copies in 1941. Tubb became a huge star and continued to perform until 1982, when declining health forced him off the road. “There’s nothing I love more than singing for a live audience,” he once said. He died from emphysema in 1984.

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