Smith, Carl

Smith, Carl (M.) , American country singer and guitarist; b. Maynardsville, Tenn., March 15, 1927. Smith was one of the most successful country singers of the 1950s, performing in a variety of styles, from honkytonk to ballads and even rockabilly; his biggest hits among the 93 recordings he placed in the country charts between 1951 and 1978 were “Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way,” “(When You Feel Like You’re in Love) Don’t Just Stand There,” and “Hey Joe!”

Smith took up the guitar in his youth and first played in public at an amateur contest when he was 13. At 17 he got a summer job performing on Knoxville radio station WROL. He graduated from high school and enlisted in the navy in 1945, serving until August 1946. He returned to WROL and also performed on other radio stations and in country bands during the next few years. He came to the attention of the Grand Ole Opry radio show in Nashville and made his debut on the show in March 1950, also getting a job at the show’s home station, WSM.

On May 5, 1950, Smith signed to Columbia Records, making his recording debut on May 11. His first hit came in June 1951 with “Let’s Live a Little” (music and lyrics by Ruth Coletharp), and he scored three more hits before the end of the year, including “Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way” (music and lyrics by Louie Clark and Loys Southerland), which hit 1 in December.

Smith had four more hits in 1952, among them “(When You Feel Like You’re in Love) Don’t Just Stand There” (music and lyrics by Jack Henley and Ernest Tubb), which topped the charts in March, and “Are You Teasing Me” (music and lyrics by Charlie Louvin and Ira Louvin), which became his third consecutive #1 country hit in July. That month he married singer June Carter of the group Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters. Their daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith (b. Madison, Tenn., Sept. 26, 1955), became a successful singer under the name Carlene Carter. They later divorced.

Smith continued to be a top country recording artist over the next four years. His seven hits in 1953 were led by “Hey Joe!” (music and lyrics by Boudleaux Bryant), which hit #1 in August. Of his five chart entries in 1954, the most successful was “Loose Talk” (music and lyrics by Freddie Hart and Ann Lucas), which hit #1 in January 1955. He had eight chart songs in 1955, four of which reached the Top Ten, the most popular being “There She Goes” (music and lyrics by Durwood Haddoc, Eddie Miller, and W. S. Stevenson). There were another four Top Ten country hits in 1956, with “You Are the One” (music and lyrics by Pat Patterson) charting the highest.

Smith was a regular on the monthly one-hour network television broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry that ran from October 1955 to September 1956. After it concluded, he quit the Grand Ole Opry and undertook an extensive package tour underwritten by the Philip Morris cigarette company that lasted a year and a half. He also found time to appear in two films, The Badge of Marshall Brennan (1957) and Buffalo Guns (1958). In September 1957 he married singer Goldie Hill; they had three children.

Though he regularly reached the country charts, Smith had fewer hits after 1956, making the Top Ten only four more times, with “Why, Why” (1957), “Your Name Is Beautiful” (1957), “Ten Thousand Drums” (1959), and “Deep Water” (1967). From March to September 1961 he was one of the regulars on the musical variety series Five Star Jubilee, broadcast on network television once a week. For five years starting in 1964 he hosted the TV series Carl Smith’s Country Music Hall, which was produced and syndicated in Canada with some U.S. station also picking it up.

Smith left Columbia Records in 1974 and cut back on his activities, but he signed to Hickory Records the following year and continued recording until 1977, when he retired to his ranch near Nashville. He came out of retirement to do the occasional show, and in 1980 he rerecorded his greatest hits for an album promoted on television.

Dscography

Carl Smith (9156); Softly and Tenderly (1956); Sentimental Songs (1957); Smith’s the Name (1957); Sunday Down South (1957); Let’s Live a Little (1958); The Carl Smith Touch (1960); Easy to Please (1962); Tall, Tall Gentleman (1963); There Stands the Glass (1964); I Want to Live and Love (1965); Kisses Don’t Lie (1965); Man with a Plan (1966); The Country Gentleman Sings (1967); Satisfaction Guaranteed (1967); Country on My Mind (1968); Deep Water (1968); A Tribute to Roy Acuff (1969); Faded Love and Winter Roses (1969); I Love You Because (1970); The Way I Lose My Mind (1975); This Lady Loving Me (1977); Old Lonesome Times (1988).

—William Ruhlmann