Tillman Ben Franks, Sr. (September 29, 1920 – October 26, 2006), was an American

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and the manager for a number of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artists including Johnny Horton, David Houston,

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish south ...

, and the Carlisles.

Background

Franks was born in

Stamps Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

in Lafayette County in southwestern

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, to George Watson Franks (1890-1967) and the former Pearl Galloway (1896-1983). When he was two years of age, Franks' family relocated to Shreveport in northwestern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where they assumed residence in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. In his later years he lived in southwestern Shreveport near his long-term friend Claude King, known for the 1962 hit songs "

Wolverton Mountain "Wolverton Mountain" is a country music song and 1962 crossover hit that established Claude King's career as an American country singer-songwriter. The song was a rewrite of the original version by Merle Kilgore, which was based on a real person n ...

" and "The Burning of Atlanta", a ballad about the 1864 battle of Atlanta in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Franks served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, after which he married the former Virginia Helen Suber (1927-2016), a native of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, Texas, and a daughter of Earl Clark Suber (1900-1954), who served with the military police in

, and the former Rose Lee Rich (1907-1937). Virginia was subsequently reared in two Shreveport

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

ages and like her husband graduated from

C. E. Byrd High School C. E. Byrd, a Blue Ribbon School, is a high school in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States. In continuous operation since its establishment in 1925, C. E. Byrd is also the eighth-largest high school in the United States of America as of Februa ...

in Shreveport. She became an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

ist with speciality in oil paintings, a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Not ...

, and sang with her husband of sixty years and their son, Tillman Franks, Jr. The Franks had two sons and two daughters.

Music career

After the war, Franks and Claude King formed the Rainbow Boys while working at an assortment of other jobs, mostly in automobile sales. On April 3, 1948, Franks played bass with the Bailes Brothers on the first night of the ''

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the ...

'', broadcast on Shreveport

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station

KWKH KWKH (1130 AM) is a sports radio station serving Shreveport, Louisiana. The 50-kilowatt station broadcasts at 1130 kHz. Formerly owned by Clear Channel Communications and Gap Central Broadcasting, it is now owned by Townsquare Media. Its studi ...

. In 1955, as Johnny Horton's manager, he switched the budding singer from

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

to Columbia. He was the sole writer of Horton's first No. 1 single, 1959's "

When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below) "When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)" is a 1959 single by Johnny Horton, written by Tillman Franks and released through Columbia Records. The single was Johnny Horton's sixth release on the country chart and the first of three num ...

". He and Horton were co-composers of " Honky Tonk Man", Horton's 1956

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, that

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerabl ...

also recorded as his first single. During 1960, Franks co-wrote with Horton the successful singles "

Sink the Bismark "Sink the Bismark" (later "Sink the Bismarck") is a march song by American country music singer Johnny Horton and songwriter Tillman Franks, based on the pursuit and eventual sinking of the German battleship ''Bismarck'' in May 1941, during ...

" and "

North to Alaska ''North to Alaska'' is a 1960 comedic Western/Northern film directed by Henry Hathaway and John Wayne (uncredited). The picture stars Wayne along with Stewart Granger, Ernie Kovacs, Fabian, and Capucine. The script is based on the 1939 play ' ...

".The Legendary Tillman Franks
Franks was injured in the head and internally as well in the automobile accident on November 5, 1960, in

Milano Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ha ...

Milam County Milam County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 24,754. The county seat is Cameron. The county was created in 1834 as a municipality in Mexico and organized as a county in 1837. Milam Coun ...

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region cons ...

, which resulted in the death of Johnny Horton and the eventual loss of a leg by a third musician,

Tommy Tomlinson Robert M. Tomlinson (born December 4, 1945) is an American politician serving as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, who represented the 6th District from 1995 to 2022. Biography Tomlinson was previously a member of the Pennsylvania H ...

. Franks' contribution to

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

music has been recognized by his induction into the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennesse ...

, the Louisiana Hall of Fame, and his induction in 2003 into the Northwest Louisiana Walk of Stars where his feet and hand impressions are in concrete beside other talents, such as

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

Kix Brooks Leon Eric Brooks III, better known by his stage name Kix Brooks (born May 12, 1955), is an American country music artist, actor, and film producer best known for being one half of the duo Brooks & Dunn and host of radio's ''American Country Co ...

David Toms David Wayne Toms (born January 4, 1967) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. From 1992 to 2017, Toms was a member of the PGA Tour, where he won 13 events, including one major, the 2001 PGA Championship ...

, and Franks' longtime friend

. The "Walk of Stars" is located under the Shreveport side of Texas Street Bridge, officially known as the Long–Allen Bridge (Shreveport) that spans the Red River to

Bossier City Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a ...

. Tillman Franks helped to coin the phrase "The Magic Circle," which he describes in his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

as: "an area 50-miles in radius from downtown Shreveport from which many kinds of music evolved. I was lucky to have lived my life in The Magic Circle."

Legacy

On July 11, 1996, Shreveport observed "Tillman Franks Day", sponsored by KWKH. Franks died in the fall of 2006 at the age of eighty-six. His son, the Reverend Watson Franks, preached the funeral. The family is interred at Forest Park West Cemetery in Shreveport. In 2019,

KEEL The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

Radio recalled Franks as "a legend that should be remembered orall the contributions not only to Shreveport's musical history but to rock and country." Franks' out-of-print autobiography entitled ''Tillman Franks: I Was There When It Happened'' is still in demand by his remaining fans.

Notes

External links

Tillman Franks Web site
* Franks at Allmusic.combr>Frank Tillman at Hillbilly-Music.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franks, Tillman 1920 births 2006 deaths American double-bassists Male double-bassists American country songwriters American male songwriters American talent agents People from Stamps, Arkansas Writers from Shreveport, Louisiana C. E. Byrd High School alumni Musicians from Shreveport, Louisiana Starday Records artists United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers 20th-century American musicians Songwriters from Louisiana Songwriters from Arkansas 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century American male musicians