On this day (October 10) in 2013, country music hitmaker Cal Smith died at age 81 at his home in Branson, Missouri. Getting his start as a member of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours in the 1960s, Smith also enjoyed solo success with multiple number-one hits. His best-known work includes the Country Music Association’s 1974 Song of the Year “Country Bumpkin” and the Bill Anderson-penned “The Lord Knows I’m Drinking”. Today, we’re examining the life and career of Cal Smith on the 13th anniversary of his passing.
Who Was Cal Smith?
Born Calvin Grant Shofner on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, Cal Smith grew up in San Jose, California, after his family headed west during the Great Depression.
Learning to play the guitar as a child, Smith set his sights on a career in show business at an early age. He made his professional debut at 15 at The Remember Me Cafe in San Francisco, earning $1.50 a night playing for a crowd of mostly migrant California vineyard workers.
Musical success didn’t arrive overnight, however, and Smith spent much of the 1950s working various jobs including truck driver and bronco buster. After a mid-’50s appearance on the California Hayride program, he served two years in the U.S. military.
His Time as a Texas Troubadour
Cal Smith returned to the Bay Area following his discharge, finding work as a DJ at a San Jose radio station. He also continued playing in a band with Bill Drake, the brother of one of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours.
After hearing the band play in 1961, Tubb invited Smith to audition for his band. It went well, and the Oklahoma-born musician would spend the next eight years as rhythm guitarist and MC of the Texas Troubadours. That’s Smith you hear on most of Tubb’s 1960s-era recordings, including “Thanks a Lot”.
Smith’s Solo Career
In 1966, Tubb helped Cal Smith land a contact with Kapp Records. He first cracked the Billboard chart with the single “The Only Thing I Want”.
In the late 1960s, Smith exited the Texas Troubadours and released his first solo album, Drinking Champagne, in 1969. Soon, he was recording material from some of Nashville’s preeminent songwriters, scoring his first number-one hit with 1972’s “The Lord Knows I’m Drinking” — an acerbic, Bill Anderson-penned takedown of small-town self-righteousness.
Smith recorded two more number-one hits in 1974 with “It’s Time to Pay the Fiddler” and “Country Bumpkin”. The latter — written by Don Wayne — earned Song of the Year honors from both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.
Smith’s chart success continued into the late 1970s, including the top 20 singles “Between Lust and Watching TV” (1974), “She Talked a Lot About Texas” (1975), “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories” (1977), and “Come See About Me” (1977).
He released his final album, Stories of Life by Cal Smith, in 1986.
At the time of his death, Smith was survived by wife Darlene, son Calvin, five grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. Another son, Jimmie Todd, preceded him in death.
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The post 13 Years Ago Today, We Lost the Country Star Who Turned a Playful Nickname Into One of the Most Heartbreaking Hits of the 1970s appeared first on American Songwriter.
Go To Source | Author: Erinn Callahan
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