Arthur Smith

Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (not to be confused with Arthur Smith (6) "Fiddlin' Arthur Smith") was a country musician and multi-instrumentalist (fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass and trumpet) who was born April 1, 1921 in Clinton, South Carolina and died April 3, 2014 in Charlotte, North Carolina. His first group was Smith's Carolina Crackerjacks (later called Arthur Smith And His Cracker-Jacks) a Dixieland combo that he formed with his brothers Sonny and Ralph. Arthur then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where he joined the WBT Carolina Barndance live radio show and became an occasional member of the WBT Briarhoppers band. Discharged from the Navy after WWII, Arthur returned to WBT and got his own show called Carolina Calling. Later in 1951 he got his own TV show on WBTV called The Arthur Smith Show, the first national country music show; it ran for 32 years in 90 markets nationwide. In the mid-seventies, he also performed with his son, guitarist Clay Smith under the name of Smith & Son. Smith opened and ran the first recording studio, Arthur Smith Studios, in Charlotte where he produced radio shows for Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Richard Petty, James Brown, George Beverly Shea and evangelist Billy Graham as well as his own show Top of the Morning, which ran for 29 years. He later produced television shows for Graham and Cash too. In 1975 Smith founded CMH Records along with Martin Hearle. Arthur Smith won the following awards. BMI Song of the Year Award 1973 for Dueling Banjos Grammy (Original Writer) - Dueling Banjos (1973) Council on International Nontheatrical Events - Golden Eagle Award (1980) The Gold Squirrel Award (Grand Prize – First Prize) Festival International Film & Adventura, Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy (1981) International Real Life Adventure Film Festival, 1st Place Award (1981) State of North Carolina Order of The Long Leaf Pine (1984) Southeast Tourism Society Award (1985) American Advertising Federation Silver Medal Award (1986) Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) Special Citation of Achievement (over 1 million broadcast performances of original compositions) The Broadcasters Hall of Fame – North Carolina Association of Broadcasters (1990) South Carolina Hall of Fame (1998) North Carolina Folk Heritage Award (1998) North Carolina Award (2001) Legends Award – Western Film Festival 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award - South Carolina Broadcasters Association (2006) BMI Legendary Songwriter Award (2006).