While Tubb projected a conservative image for his fans, he was a heavy drinker, smoker, and gambler. The drinking resulted not only in car wrecks, but most memorably, an angry Tubb once went to the lobby of WSM, Nashville’s most famous radio station, at 4:30 a.m. while wearing house shoes and left a bullet hole in the wall after a business dispute. Besides wrecking hotel rooms, one of his favorite blackout hobbies was kicking rear windows out of his automobiles. His behavior did not often provide the most stable environment for his band, The Texas Troubadours, creating significant turnover in membership.
Still, while being busy with his own career, he was a selfless promoter for younger talent. His sponsorship resulted in three Hanks getting to perform on the Grand Ole Opry – Thompson, Williams, and Snow. During the 1960s, Cal Smith and Jack Greene performed in the most famous version of The Troubadours and he assisted them to solo fame. He also served as a mentor/father figure to Stonewall Jackson and Skeeter Davis. During the 1940s, because it was difficult for fans to find country records, he opened the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville, losing tens of thousands of dollars in the first few years of business. He was generous to the point of irresponsibility with his own funds, always willing to give a handout to a beggar or an advance to a struggling musician. After performing for the troops in Korea in 1953, Tubb volunteered to contact the wives and mothers of service personnel to let them know their loved ones were alive and well. He received several hundred requests and fulfilled each one with personal phone calls or letters.
