[accordion music]
- Pee Wee King's real name was Frank Kuczynski.
He was a Polish boy from Abrams, Wisconsin.
His instrument, the accordion, reflected his
Midwestern heritage, but in the 1930s, he organized a band
called the Golden West Cowboys.
He toured for a while with the
Hollywood singing cowboy Gene Autry.
He added a touch of the West to the business, and in 1948,
along with his lead singer Redd Stewart,
he wrote a song that made country music
and popular music history;
this was "The Tennessee Waltz."
* ...and the Tennessee Waltz
* Now I know just how much... *
It was an international hit
and an example of the crossover phenomenon
that later dominated the music world,
the movement of one genre of music into another.
[ending vocal note]