Singer Redd Stewart formed several bands in and around Louisville, KY, in the 1930s with moderate success before meeting and teaming up with a brash young accordionist and bandleader named Pee Wee King and achieving widespread popularity. Though the band did well in the late '30s, it wasn't until after WWII that the group really hit full stride. It was during that time that Stewart began writing and, inspired by his service time, wrote a smash hit for Ernest Tubb in the weepy "A Soldier's Last Letter." And with King as a writing partner, the team churned out hits such as "Bonaparte's Retreat" and the enduring country classic "Tennessee Waltz." The hits kept coming with "Slow Poke" and "You Belong to Me" topping the charts in the early '50s, and the duo continued to play in bands together throughout the '60s. ~ Steve Kurutz