Cal Smith

He was born Calvin Grant Shofner on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, and grew up in Oakland, California. He began playing guitar and performing in his teens and was singing in cafes by 1947. After his military service he settled in California and worked as a disc jockey. His first record, “Eleven Long Years” backed with “Tearstained Pillow,” was cut around 1960 for Plaid, an Oakland label, with the Jimmie Rivers Band.

In 1962 he joined Ernest Tubb’s band, the Texas Troubadours, as rhythm guitarist and vocalist. From January 1963 he played guitar on Tubb’s Decca sessions in Nashville, produced by Owen Bradley, alongside Leon Rhodes, Buddy Charleton on steel, Jack Drake on bass and Jack Greene on drums. On April 19, 1965, at RCA Victor’s studio, he was one of three guitarists, with Rhodes and Jerry Shook, on “Waltz Across Texas.” The Troubadours also made records without Tubb, and Smith sang lead on several of them, starting with “I’ll Have Another Cup of Coffee” in July 1963 and including “Oklahoma Hills” and “Time Changes Everything.”

While still with Tubb he began recording for Kapp under producer Paul Cohen in October 1965. “The Only Thing I Want” became his first chart record in 1967, and “Drinking Champagne,” cut in March 1968, was the title song of a Kapp album. He left the Troubadours in 1968; his last session with Tubb’s band was in December that year at Bradley’s Barn.

In 1970 he moved to Decca, working with producer Walter Haynes at Bradley’s Barn in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. “I’ve Found Someone of My Own” was his first Top 5 single on the label. “The Lord Knows I’m Drinking,” a Bill Anderson song recorded on March 13, 1972, went to number one and crossed over to the pop charts. “Country Bumpkin,” written by Don Wayne and recorded on December 21, 1973, topped the charts in 1974 and was voted the CMA’s single of the year. His last number one, “It’s Time to Pay the Fiddler,” by Walter Haynes and Don Wayne, was recorded in June 1974 with a studio band that included Grady Martin and Reggie Young on lead guitar and reached the top in 1975.

He stayed with MCA into 1979, then recorded for First Generation in 1981 with Pete Drake producing, cut duets with Billy Parker in 1982, and made his last album for Step One around 1986, with Ray Pennington producing. He died at his home near Branson, Missouri, on October 10, 2013, at the age of 81.