Calvin Grant Shofner (April 7, 1932 – October 10, 2013), known professionally as Cal Smith, was an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, most famous for his 1974 hits " Country Bumpkin" and " It's Time to Pay the Fiddler".

Career

Calvin Grant Shofner was born on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, as the youngest of three sons of James "Otto" and Ethel (Quinn) Shofner. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the Smiths headed west and settled in Oakland,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and he grew up in San Jose, California. Smith began his music career performing at the Remember Me Cafe in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

at the age of 15, but he was not financially successful at first. Throughout the 1950s, he was not able to continue his music career, so he worked at various other jobs, including truck driving and bronco busting. He appeared on the '' California Hayride'' television show in the mid-1950s before serving two years in the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. After his discharge, he began playing in a band in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. In 1961,

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

legend Ernest Tubb heard the band play, and after an audition, hired Smith to play guitar for the Texas Troubadours; Smith is heard playing in most of Tubb's 1960s recordings. His first solo single was "Tear Stained Pillow" / "Eleven Long Years" on the local Plaid label. Smith's stage name began to catch on after he released his second solo single, "I'll Just Go Home", in 1966 for Kapp Records, and he first cracked the ''Billboard'' chart with his second single, "The Only Thing I Want". Smith permanently parted ways with Tubb and the Texas Troubadours in 1969 and he released his first solo album, ''Drinking Champagne'', in 1969. The album's title track had reached the top 40 on the country chart the previous year, and was later a top-10 hit for George Strait in 1990. In 1970, Smith signed with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, and his popularity quickly soared, starting off with his 1972 top-10 hit, " I've Found Someone of My Own". He began recording songs written by some of the biggest names in the industry; for instance, in March 1973, his rendition of Bill Anderson's " The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" became his first number-one country hit. When Decca became

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

in 1973, he enjoyed his biggest successes. In 1974, he recorded two of his greatest hits, " It's Time to Pay the Fiddler" and " Country Bumpkin", which received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...

Later career

Smith continued to have success with

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). After this, he continued to have minor successes that included "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" in 1979. Smith released his last album, ''Stories of Life by Cal Smith'', in 1986 on Step One Records, where he scored a minor hit that year with "King Lear".

Personal life

In 1977, Smith joined entrepreneur Larry Schmittou and other country music stars, such as Conway Twitty, Jerry Reed, Larry Gatlin, and Richard Sterban, as investors in the Nashville Sounds, a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team of the Double-A Southern League that began play in 1978. Smith and his wife, Darlene, lived in the Branson,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, area. Smith died in Branson on October 10, 2013. He was survived by Darlene, his son Calvin, five grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Jimmie Todd.

Discography

Albums

Singles

*^A"The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" also peaked at No. 64 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot 100.

Awards and nominations

Music City News Country Awards

, - , 1968 , Cal Smith , Most Promising Male Artist ,

Academy of Country Music Awards

, - , rowspan=4,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, rowspan=2, " Country Bumpkin" , Single Record of the Year , , - , Song of the Year , , - , Cal Smith , Top Male Vocalist of the Year , , - , ''Country Bumpkin'' , Album of the Year ,

Country Music Association Awards

, - , 1973 , " The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" , rowspan=2, Single of the Year , , - , rowspan=3, 1974 , " Country Bumpkin" , , - , ''Country Bumpkin'' , Album of the Year , , - , Cal Smith , Male Vocalist of the Year ,

References

External links

*
Cal Smith at CMT.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Cal 1932 births 2013 deaths People from Sequoyah County, Oklahoma Singers from Oakland, California American country singer-songwriters American country guitarists American male guitarists MCA Records artists Decca Records artists Kapp Records artists Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from California Country musicians from Oklahoma 20th-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from California