Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith
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Arthur Smith (born April 1, 1921 in Clinton, South Carolina) is an American musician and songwriter.
Arthur Smith was a textile mill worker who became a respected country music instrumental composer, guitarist, fiddler, and banjo player who had a major hit with the instrumental, "Guitar Boogie." 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) and would be recorded by numerous others including as a rock and roll hit by Frank Virtue and The Virtues renamed the "Guitar Boogie Shuffle." 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 "Surf music" pioneers The Ventures.
In 1955, Arthur Smith and Don Reno wrote and recorded a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin’ Banjos" that appeared in the popular 1972 film Deliverance as "Dueling Banjos" played by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel. Not given credit, Smith had to proceed with legal action that eventually gave him songwriting credit and back royalties.
Smith was the son of a textile worker who also led the town band in Kershaw, SC; his first instrument was the cornet. Arthur Smith, along with his brothers Ralph and Sonny formed a Dixieland combo, the Carolina Crackerjacks, who appeared briefly on radio in Spartanburg, SC; they had limited success with their jazz format, and became a more popular "hillbilly" group before Arthur moved to Charlotte, NC to join the cast of the WBT Carolina Barndance live show and radio program. Before WWII, he was an occasional member of the WBT Briarhoppers band.
After wartime service in the US Navy, Arthur returned to Charlotte; joined by his brothers, his wife Betty and vocalist Roy Lear, he continued his recording career and started his own radio show on WBT. The Smith Brothers were part of the first live program broadcast by the new television station, WBTV, in Charlotte, and the band, now renamed Arthur Smith & His Crackerjacks, became an institution in the Piedmont area of the Carolinas through the new medium; their daily early-morning program, Carolina Calling, was carried on the CBS-TV network as a summer-replacement during the 1950s, increasing Smith's national visibility. The band was unusual for a "hillbilly" band in that it relied on tight arrangements with written "charts" for most of their music.
Smith built and managed one of the first commercial recording studios in Charlotte; in addition to recording Smith, the Crackerjacks and its various members, such as vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Tommy Faile, it produced sides from many other acts, including rhythm and blues star James Brown, whose "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" was cut in Smith's studio.
With the advent of video-tape technology in the 1970s, Smith produced a weekly, thirty-minute program which was carried in over seventy TV markets at its peak. He produced radio and television shows for a number of other artists, including Johnny Cash, gospel singer George Beverly Shea, and was for many years associated with evangelist Billy Graham.
The Crackerjacks band employed a number of noted country musicians at various times, including Don Reno, fiddler Jim Buchanan (later with Jim & Jesse's Virginia Boys and Mel Tillis), banjoists David Deese, Carl Hunt and Jeff Whittington, resonator guitarist Ray Atkins (Johnny & Jack, Carl Story) and country singer George Hamilton IV. Other regular cast members included Wayne Haas, Don Ange, and Jackie Schuler, along with Ralph Smith and Tommy Faile.
As of Fall, 2006, Arthur Smith is retired; his extensive publishing interests are managed by his son, Clay. He currently attends Calvary Church in Charlotte, pastored by Dr. John H. Munro.
