Connie Smith, once dubbed “The Cinderella of country music,” has long been heralded as one of the greatest singers within the genre. Dolly Parton, in fact, once famously declared there were only three real females singers—Barbara Streisand, Linda Ronstadt and Connie Smith—and the rest, including Dolly herself, “are just pretending.”
Connie Smith's Hit-Country Song Legacy Endures
Born Constance June Meador, Smith found overnight commercial success and country-music fame in 1964 at age 23 after she recorded the Bill Anderson-penned Once A Day. The now-classic number went on to become the first debut single by a female country singer hit No. 1 on the charts, a position it held for eight weeks, and nearly five decades later, it remains the only first single ever to have accomplished such a feat.
Nonetheless, the one-time RCA Victor recording artist, who is envied for her distinctive stylings and impeccable phrasing, opted to rear her five children versus choosing her music career as her life’s top priority. And in spite of putting her country-music stardom on the back burner in the name of making being a mom job No. 1, Smith’s fans remained and new ones joined their ranks, thanks to her heartfelt way with a country lyric.
Bluegrass and Country Star Marty Stuart Remains Wife's No. 1 Music Fan
Among the blond vocalist’s top fans was, and is, her dedicated husband, bluegrass-turned-country hit-maker Marty Stuart, whose weekly TV show features his Grand Ole Opy starlet missus. Moreover, it is instrumentalist extraordinaire Stuart, a native of Mississippi, who urged and guided the Indiana-born Smith to finally record her forthcoming CD, Long Line of Heartaches, which is set for release Aug. 23, 2011.
Although Smith has always had a winning way when it came to making a song her own, before marrying Stuart she had not relied on her own tunesmithing abilities, leaving the creation of material for her prior albums to some of Nashville's top songwriters, such as the aforementioned Anderson and Dallas Frazier, the latter of whom has penned nearly 70 tracks recorded by Smith.
Connie Smith Tackles Songwriting Duties on New Album
With the upcoming release of the dozen-song Long Line of Heartaches CD, though, Smith had a heavy had in co-authoring much of the album’s material, including its title track, which she penned with hubby Stuart, who she wed in 1997. However, if left to her own designs, Smith has said she suspects the new record might not have ever been made.
“I put if off for quite awhile because I wasn’t sure if I could do it,” conceded Smith during a recent video interview shared by her Sugar Hill Records label. “And I’m not so sure I could now if I hadn’t had Marty working with me and Mick Conley as the engineer; I don’t know. But I still love to sing just as much as I ever did. ...”
And sing, she does, and all the way to perfection’s edges on her new CD, which is her first album of new material in 15 years and her second album since 1976, not to mention her 53rd album thus far. Additionally, fans get more of the artist than ever before, thanks to her role in crafting much of its material.
RFD TV-Host Husband Provides Strong Musical Support for Connie Smith
"If I hadn't had Marty and (engineer) Mick working with me, this record couldn't have happened like it did,” Smith said. “When we got five of the songs Marty and I wrote, coupled with the seven great songs from other writers, we got serious and knew it was time to record. The songs had to come first. Then the work was just a joy.”
Calling herself “a heart-song person,” meaning it’s important for a song help her communicate with others, Smith said that when it came time to choose the material for the new CD, “I had written a few of the songs I and others had recorded over the years, but I'd never even begun to think I could write enough to do a whole album.”
Predictably, Smith’s better half knew she could, she shared, and from that point on, the country-music couple “found other good songs, too,” because “it can be a bad idea to only do your own songs.”
Thus, offered Smith, “I don't cut a song because (veteran country songwriters such as) Bill (Anderson), Harlan (Howard), Dallas (Frazier) or I wrote it, I cut it because I think it's the best song that I can find at the time."
Music Firsts: Long Line of Heartaches CD Features Cameo by Singer's Daughters
One of the high points in making the new record. Smith has said, was the rare and first-time appearance of her three daughters, Julie, Jeanne and Jodi, who make a cameo on one of the album’s tracks, a hymn titled Take My Hand.
"My five kids all know every word to every one of my songs," Connie noted during her video interview, "and we always sang at home. You'll hear that my daughters are really good; they just never had the desire to be professionals. Neither did my two sons, Darren and Kerry, who also sing well."
Beyond the strong support from her husband, some might wonder why Smith opted to record fresh material now, in an age when traditional country is no longer the staple of commercial radio’s playlists. For the now Nashville-based performer, the answer is relatively simple.
“I think one of the reasons that I want to do this album is also very deep reason,” she said via video, “and that is the fact that I feel so fortunate to have been introduced to Nashville in the early ‘60s when music was the way it was. And I feel it slippin’ away much, much faster than I’m ready for it to slip away. The only way I know of doing something about it at this point is keep singin’ what I always loved, because I’m still the same”
Lisa L. Rollins - Texas native Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D., is an award-winning feature writer, interviewer and journalism educator.
