Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith

Arthur Smith (April 1, 1921 – April 3, 2014) was an American musician, composer, and record producer, as well as a radio and TV host.

He produced radio and TV shows; The Arthur Smith Show was the first nationally syndicated country music show on television.

After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, Smith developed and ran the first commercial recording studio in the Southeast.

Born in Clinton, South Carolina, United States, Arthur Smith was a textile mill worker who became a celebrated and respected country music instrumental composer, guitarist, fiddler, and banjo player.

Arthur Smith was born in 1921 in Clinton, South Carolina, the son of Clayton Seymour Smith, a cotton mill worker, and his wife.

His father was also a music teacher, and led a brass band in Kershaw, South Carolina.

The boy's first instrument was the cornet.

Arthur, along with his brothers Ralph and Sonny, formed a Dixieland combo, the Carolina Crackerjacks, who appeared briefly on radio in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

They had limited success with their jazz format, and became more popular as a country music group.

Arthur Smith moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to join the cast of the WBT Carolina Barndance, a live show and radio program.

Before World War II, he was an occasional member of the WBT Briarhoppers band.

After wartime service in the US Navy, Smith returned to Charlotte.

He was joined in his recording career by his brothers, wife Dorothy and vocalist Roy Lear.

He also started his own radio show, Carolina Calling, on WBT.

The song earned him the moniker Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (to differentiate him from Tennessee fiddler and 1930s Grand Ole Opry star Fiddlin' Arthur Smith).

It was recorded by numerous other musicians, including Tommy Emmanuel, and became known around the world.

Renamed "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", it became a rock and roll hit by Frank Virtue and the Virtues.

Virtue served in the Navy with Smith and counted him as a major influence.

Other musicians who have been influenced by Smith include Nashville studio ace Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Roy Clark, and Glen Campbell.

One of his early hits was the instrumental "Guitar Boogie", which he wrote and recorded in 1945.

It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

They had a daily early-morning variety program, Carolina Calling, which was carried on the CBS-TV network as a summer-replacement during the 1950s.

This increased Smith's national visibility.

Unusually for a country music band, his band relied on tight arrangements with written "charts" for most of their music.

"'He was a good neighbor on radio and TV to so many people,' said Tom Hanchett, historian at the Levine Museum of the New South. 'He was somebody who came to you every day in your living room or kitchen and felt like a member of the family in a way hard to imagine today. He was from the same mold as Doc Watson and Andy Griffith. He enjoyed the genial tradition of being a Southern gentleman. He relished that.'"

Smith emceed part of the first live television program broadcast in 1951 by the new television station, WBTV, in Charlotte.

His own The Arthur Smith Show was the first country music television show to be syndicated nationally; it ran for 32 years in 90 markets coast to coast.

His band, renamed Arthur Smith & His Crackerjacks, became an institution in the Southeast area through the new medium.

Smith was also noted for his "Feudin' Banjos" (1955), which was also recorded by Lester Flatt.

In 1955, Smith composed a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos", and recorded the song with five-string banjo player Don Reno.

It was revived as "Dueling Banjos" and used as a theme song in the popular film, Deliverance (1972).

Released as a single, it became a hit, played on Top 40, AOR, and country stations alike.

It reached the Top Ten and hit #1 in the US and Canada.

Because he was not credited in the film for the song, Smith sued Warner Brothers, and gained a settlement.

Smith asked Warner Bros. to include his name on the official soundtrack listing, but reportedly asked to be omitted from the film credits because he found the film offensive.

Later the composition was performed in the popular 1972 film Deliverance, retitled "Dueling Banjos" and played by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell.

It was released as a single becoming a major hit: played on Top 40, AOR, and country stations alike.

It reached the Top Ten in several categories and hit #1 on the Cashbox and Record World US pop charts.

It was also a #1 country hit in the US and Canada.

Not credited for this piece in the film, Smith filed a legal suit against Warner Brothers, winning a "substantial settlement;" it included his being awarded songwriting credit and back royalties.