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A country legend. Photo by Russ Harrington.

When you meet Connie Smith you don’t feel like you’re talking to a legend of country music. Petite, classy but not flashy, with bright blue eyes that sparkle when she recalls good times or talks about her kids. She seems more like your favorite hip aunt than a star who achieved 47 chart hits in the sixties and seventies. But then you hear her sing and it’s that voice — unbelievably powerful, but with a perfect command of tone and phrasing that has put in the same class as Patsy Cline or George Jones.

But while singing may come naturally for Smith, the pursuit of stardom was another matter. ”I love to sing,” Smith explained, “but I don’t think I would have put in the time to become a top-notch entertainer on my own. The success that I achieved kind of sought me, and I just kind of went with it.”

MISS SMITH GOES TO NASHVILLE

Housewife and part time country singer Constance June Smith at the Big Red Jubliee in Parksburg, WV – 1963

That success found her in 1963. On a whim, the young housewife entered a talent contest in Columbus, Ohio. She won five silver dollars and the chance to appear on stage with Grand Ole Opry star Bill Anderson. The chance meeting led to an invitation from Anderson to visit Nashville and record.

“That demo session wound up in the hands of Chet Atkins,” Smith said, “and Chet wanted to sign me to RCA, and turned me over to Bob Ferguson to produce me. I cut ‘Once a Day’ on the very first session and it went to number one and was there for eight weeks. And I thought I might as well give it a shot.”

Connie in the studio after signing with RCA Records with Bill Anderson (left) and producer Bob Ferguson, June 1964

Starting with those first recordings, the power and delivery of Smith’s vocals was matched by her ability to pick songs perfect for her talents. And at a time when strings and vocal choruses were blurring the line between country and pop, the lean production style that emphasized the interplay between and Smith’s downhome vocals and the steel guitar playing of Weldon Myrick were a bold statement of pure hillbilly soul.

“I love all kinds of music,” Smith said. “I grew up listening to the Louvin Brothers on the Opry but also Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughn and people like that. I love it all, but when it comes out of my mouth it winds up being country. They wanted me to go middle-of-the-road, and they said you can do more than country, and I said I don’t want to do more than country.”

FAMILY NOT FAME

While she was devoted to music, Smith had mixed feelings about the demands of stardom. And with the birth of three daughters in three years in the early seventies, she found herself at a crossroads. “The only thing I could let go of was my career,” Smith said. “I just couldn’t stand leaving the kids with all of them crying around my ankles, and they change so fast and so quickly, and they need direction and all that. So I wanted to be with the kids.”

Connie Smith at home in 1972 surrounded by a few of her albums

After releasing 43 albums in 14 years, Smith basically stopped. In the last three decades, she recorded only one solo album. But Connie Smith never stopped singing. As her children grew older, she gradually returned to weekly appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, occasional live performances, and with her current husband, Marty Stuart, on his TV show.

THE RETURN

With the recent release, Long Line of Heartaches, Smith has returned to recording. Though Stuart had encouraged her to do so for many years, it was an old friend’s return to songwriting that would provide the final push. “Dallas Frazier brought me a song called ‘What’s a Heart Like You Doing in a Fool Like Me,’” Smith said. “He had quit writing for about thirty years. So he had started back writing and this was one of the first songs he had written, and it was such a great song I thought, now I want to record that.”

Connie and songwriter Dallas Frazier in the studio, early 1970’s.

For Smith, the return has been like a homecoming, drawing rave reviews from both old fans and a new generation. It’s a reunion she plans to continue. “Well, I’m seventy,” she noted, “I can’t take too many more breaks, if I’m gonna keep doing it. I’m in the groove now, so I don’t think it will be that long before we do another CD.

Connie in 2011. Photo by Russ Harrington

“I did an in-store promotion in Louisville the other day and this little two year old boy came in and when I started singing, ‘When you found somebody new I thought I never would,’ he looked up at his mommy and said, ‘Once a Day!’ and he’s two! That’s the kind of fans I love.” And for Connie Smith, her fans are an extended family who are welcoming her home.