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Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (not to be confused with Arthur Smith "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 which he formed with his brothers Sonny and Ralph. Arthur then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina and joined the WBT Carolina Barndance live radio show and became an occasional member of the WBT Briarhoppers band. After WWII and leaving the Navy Arthur returned to WBT and got his own show called Carolina Calling, and 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 has also been performing with his son, guitarist under the name of... Read More ... .
Smith opened and ran the first recording studio, , 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.
Arthur Smith has 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 Broadcasters Association (2006)
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).
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