Tommy Faile

{{Short description|American songwriter (1928–1998)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Tommy Faile

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

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| birth_place = Lancaster, South Carolina, U.S.

| birth_date = September 15, 1928

| death_place = Gaston County, North Carolina, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|08|02|1928|09|15}}

| origin =

| genre = Country

| occupation = Songwriter, singer

| years_active = 1946–1990s

| label =

| past_member_of = Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, Snuffy Jenkins

| website =

}}

Tommy Faile (September 15, 1928 – August 2, 1998) was an American songwriter and singer best known for composing "Phantom 309", singing "The Legend of the Brown Mountain Lights", his deep voice and comic onstage banter.

Born in Lancaster, South Carolina, Faile got his start on local radio in 1946 with Snuffy Jenkins, Homer Sherrill and the Hired Hands on WIS in Columbia, South Carolina.{{cite encyclopedia |last= Jones|first= Loyal|authorlink= |editor= |encyclopedia= Country Music Humorists and Comedians|title= Tommy Faile|url= |accessdate= |language= |edition= |year= 2008|publisher= University of Illinois Press|volume= |location= Champaign, IL|id= |isbn= 978-0-252-03369-8|oclc= |doi= |pages= 156|quote= }} He was heard on national radio in 1949 on "Philip Morris Night with Horace Heidt".[http://btmemories.com/articles/faile/tommy_faile.htm Tommy Faile Gives Good Account of Himself on NBC's 'Phillip Morris Night' Broadcast] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711154226/http://btmemories.com/articles/faile/tommy_faile.htm |date=July 11, 2009 }}, Lancaster News, February 1949 (via BT Memories)

In 1951, Faile joined Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith's Crackerjacks as a bass player and singer. He also sang bass for Smith's gospel group, The Crossroads Quartet. They remained together for 18 years, until he landed his own show in the early 1970s on WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina.[https://www.myspace.com/tommyfaile Tommy Faile] (Myspace) In 1995, he joined Curly Howard's radio program on WKMT.Joe DePriest, "Tommy Faile: Still Singing, Playing Country Music," The Charlotte Observer, April 27, 1995. He died of a heart attack in 1998.[http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FAILE/1998-08/0904332115 Obituary (excerpt)]