Zeke Clements had years of entertainment experience before he evolved into a hit songwriter. During the 1920s, he left a coal-mining job to tour in vaudeville. Billed variously as "The Dixie Yodeler" and "The Alabama Cowboy," he began a lengthy country radio career in 1929 at the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago.

Following a stint touring with Otto Gray's Oklahoma Cowboys troupe, he arrived at WSM in Nashville in 1931 and stayed briefly. He moved on to entertain on stations in Detroit, Cincinnati and Philadelphia before returning to Nashville and joining the Grand Ole Opry cast in 1933. He was the first Opry star with a cowboy image. Teaming up with singer Texas Ruby, he worked in Louisville, Des Moines, New York City and Fort Worth during the 1930s. In Hollywood, he auditioned for Walt Disney and was hired as the yodeling voice of Bashful for the 1938 animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Clements eventually appeared in more than 100 films, most of them B-movie Westerns. He returned to the Opry as a solo artist — and an aspiring songwriter — in 1939.

His first songwriting success was with the World War II saber-rattling "Smoke on the Water" in 1944. Clements also wrote the big Eddy Arnold hits "Why Should I Cry," "Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long, Long Way)" and "Somebody's Been Beatin' My Time."

In 1947, he joined the cast of the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport. During the 1950s, he starred on local TV shows in New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta and Nashville. Zeke Clements was also a recording artist, issuing singles on the Liberty, Dot, Bullet and MGM labels, among others.