Carl Smith - The Country Gentleman (Remastered) '2020

Tracks list

Tracklist

CD1
01. Hey Joe! (Remastered)
02. (When You Feel Like Youre in Love) Dont Just Stand There (Remastered)
03. Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way (Remastered)
04. Guilty Conscience (Remastered)
05. This Side of Heaven (Remastered)
06. I Just Dropped in to Say Goodbye (Remastered)
07. I Overlooked an Orchid (Remastered)
08. If Teardrops Were Pennies (Remastered)
09. Lets Live a Little (Remastered)
10. Me and My Broken Heart (Remastered)
11. Mr Moon (Remastered)
12. Its a Lovely World (Remastered)
13. The Little Girl in My Home Town (Remastered)
14. Are You Teasing Me? (Remastered)
15. Theres Nothing as Sweet as My Baby (Remastered)
16. Our Honeymoon (Remastered)
17. This Orchid Means Goodbye (Remastered)
18. Softly and Tenderly (Remastered)
19. Trademark (Remastered)
20. If I Could Hold Back the Dawn (Remastered)

CD2
01. Just Wait Till I Get You Alone (Remastered)
02. Doggone It Baby, Im in Love (Remastered)
03. If You Tried as Hard to Love Me (Remastered)
04. Back up Buddy (Remastered)
05. Lovin Is Livin (Remastered)
06. Go, Boy Go (Remastered)
07. Satisfaction Guaranteed (Remastered)
08. Loose Talk (Remastered)
09. Wholl Buy My Heartaches? (Remastered)
10. Kisses Dont Lie (Remastered)
11. Time Changes Everything (Remastered)
12. Baby Im Ready (Remastered)
13. There She Goes (Remastered)
14. I Dreamed of the Old Rugged Cross (Remastered)
15. You Are the One (Remastered)
16. Old Lonesome Times (Remastered)
17. Theres a Bottle Where She Used to Be (Remastered)
18. Youre Free to Go (Remastered)
19. If Teardrops Were Pennies 2 (Remastered)
20. I Just Dropped in to Say Goodbye 2 (Remastered)

Known as Mr. Country, Carl Smith was one of the most popular honky tonkers of
the 50s, racking up over 30 Top Ten hits over the course of the decade. Smith
was also able to sustain that popularity into the late 70s, during which time he
had a charting single for every year except one. Smith had a talent for singing
smooth ballads which polished the rough edges of hardcore country. Nevertheless,
he could sing pure honky tonk with the best of them, and his hardest country was
made tougher by the addition of a drum kit. Smith was one of the very first
country artists to regularly perform with a drummer, and though it earned him
criticism at the time, the hard-driving sound of those up-tempo numbers proved
to be influential. Smith also occasionally dabbled in Western swing, and as he
continued to record, he delved deeper into the genre. Since he specialized in
honky tonk ballads and Western swing, Smith rarely crossed over into the pop
audience. Still, he was one of the most popular and best-known country singers
of his era, recording several classics - including Lets Live a Little, Let Old
Mother Nature Have Her Way, This Orchard Means Goodbye, Cut Across Shorty, Loose
Talk, (When You Feel Like Youre in Love) Dont Just Stand There, and Hey Joe! -
appearing in a handful of movies, and hosting his own television show. By the
time he retired in the early 80s, he had hit the country charts nearly 100
times.
Smith was born and raised in Maynardsville, TN, which was also the hometown of
Roy Acuff. As a child, Smith idolized Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Bill Monroe. When
he was a teenager, he taught himself how to play guitar. According to legend, he
bought his first guitar with money he earned by selling flower seeds. At the age
of 15, he was singing in the San Francisco-based country band Kitty Dibble and
Her Dude Ranch Ranglers. Two years later, he learned to play string bass and
spent his summer vacation working at WROL, a radio station in Knoxville. After
Smith finished high school, he briefly served in the U.S. Navy before heading
back home.
Once he returned to Tennessee, he continued to perform at WROL, usually playing
bass for Skeets Williamson and Molly ODay. Eventually, he began singing as well,
and one of his colleagues at the station sent an acetate of Smiths singing to
WSM in Nashville. WSM signed Smith to a contract, and he began working for the
station and singing at the Grand Ole Opry. By 1950, Columbia Records signed
Smith to a recording contract. His first hit, Lets Live a Little, arrived in
1951, climbing all the way to number two. Over the course of the year, he racked
up no less than three other hits, including the classic If Teardrops Were
Pennies and his first number one single, Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way.
Also that year, he married June Carter, the daughter of Maybelle Carter; the two
would later divorce, yet they had a daughter named Carlene that would become a
musician in her own right during the 70s.
Throughout the 50s, Smith was a consistent presence in the country charts,
racking up no less than 31 Top Ten singles during the course of the decade. In
addition to recording, he began appearing in Western movies, like 1957s The
Badge of Marshal Brennan. In 1956, he resigned from the Grand Ole Opry and
joined a package tour organized by Phillip Morris. In 1957, he married country
singer Goldie Hill, best-known for the number one hit I Let the Stars Get in My
Eyes.
As the 50s ended, Smith was no longer as dominant in the upper reaches of the
country charts as he was earlier in the decade, but he never stopped having
hits. During the 60s, he consistently charted in the Top 40, which was
indicative of his status as a country music statesman. In 1961, he appeared on
ABCs country television series, Four Star Jubilee, and a few years later, he
began hosting Carl Smiths Country Music Hall for Canadian television; the series
also was syndicated in America. Throughout the 60s and early 70s, he began to
incorporate more Western swing into his repertoire, especially on his albums.
Smith continued to release albums and singles on Columbia Records until 1975,
when he signed with Hickory. After having a handful of minor hits for the label
- including several that were released on ABC/Hickory - he decided to retire in
the late 70s.
Though he recorded an album of his greatest hits in the early 80s, Smith
retreated from the spotlight after his 1979 retirement. He and his wife, Goldie,
lived on their horse farm outside of Franklin, TN, and the two began to show
horses professionally. Hill died in 2005, and Smith followed her early in 2010
after suffering a stroke.

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