In 1951, Thompson’s wife brought to his attention a Jimmy Heap recording to the tune of “Great Speckled Bird.” Titled “The Wild Side of Life,” Thompson cut it at his first Capitol session with producer Ken Nelson in Dallas in late 1951. It became a smash hit, though Thompson himself was never that impressed with the song. Kitty Wells’ answer hit, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” even gave Thompson’s hit a second life.

And since Thompson’s big hit on “The Wild Side of Life” had spawned an answer song, he tried an answer song himself (with great success) with 1953’s “Wake Up Irene,” the response to Leadbelly’s “Good Night Irene” (a country hit for Red Foley and Ernest Tubb), featuring Merle Travis on lead guitar. Thereafter, Travis’s guitar work is evident on most Thompson sessions, and Travis helped Thompson and Gray with suggestions for musical arrangements as well.

Travis eventually married Thompson’s divorced first wife, Dorothy, in the 1970s, but all parties remained on friendly terms, Thompson calling himself and Travis “husbands-in-law” in stage banter thereafter. Thompson meantime was happily married to second wife Ann from about 1970 until his death. He had no children by either marriage.