Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith (1898 to 1971) was the star fiddler of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s. He played on the Opry from 1927, led the Dixieliners with the McGee Brothers, and made his first records with the Delmore Brothers in 1935. Tunes he made famous, such as Blackberry Blossom and Peacock Rag, are still standards at jams and contests.
Why Smith matters
Before Smith, most recorded southern fiddlers played short-bow dance tunes. Smith played long, smooth bow strokes, blues notes, and rag-flavored melodies with three or four parts. Radio carried that sound across the South every Saturday night. Young fiddlers copied him, and when bluegrass formed in the 1940s, its fiddlers already had his tunes and his bluesy slides in their hands. If you play Blackberry Blossom or Peacock Rag, you are playing Smith’s repertoire.
Life and career
Smith was born on April 10, 1898, on a farm near Bold Springs in Humphreys County, Tennessee. He learned fiddle young, with local fiddlers Grady Stringer and Walter Warden as his first models. He married in 1914 and played dances and fiddlers’ conventions with his wife Nettie, his cousin Homer Smith, and fiddler Floyd Ethredge. In 1921 he took a job with the railroad in Dickson, Tennessee, and the travel let him meet fiddlers across the state. He won most of the contests he entered.
Smith made his solo debut on the Grand Ole Opry on December 23, 1927, and his cousin Homer joined him within weeks. He kept his railroad job through the early years. In the 1930s he formed the Dixieliners with Sam and Kirk McGee, and the band became a regular Opry act in May 1932. They toured with Uncle Dave Macon and the Delmore Brothers. Smith made his first records with the Delmore Brothers for Bluebird in January 1935, and in 1936 he began to sing on record. He recorded Beautiful Brown Eyes in August 1937. When other artists later cut the song as a public domain number, he sued and won.
Hard work and hard drinking led to a three-month suspension from the Opry in February 1938. Roy Acuff helped him get back to work. In 1938 Bluebird issued his first records under the name Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners. In 1939 he joined the Tennessee Valley Boys with Howdy Forrester and Georgia Slim Rutland. He then worked with the Shelton Brothers in Shreveport, his own Band of Arthurs in Decatur, Alabama, and the Bailes Brothers. He published two songbooks in the early 1940s.
Work with Jimmy Wakely brought him to Hollywood in 1944 for a run of low-budget westerns that ended in 1948. He signed with Capitol, which released his records as The Original Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners to avoid confusion with Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith. He retired for a time and worked as a carpenter in Nashville, then returned to music with Merle Travis.
In 1957 Mike Seeger recorded Smith with the McGee Brothers in Kirk McGee’s living room. Those recordings came out on Folkways in the 1960s. Smith and the McGees played the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He made his last appearance in 1969 and died in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 28, 1971. He is buried near McEwen, Tennessee.
Playing style
Smith’s sound rests on the long bow. Where older fiddlers sawed one note per stroke, he pulled several notes on a single smooth bow and let the melody sing. That gives his playing a legato flow that still sounds modern.
He loved the blues. Tunes such as Dickson County Blues use slides, flattened thirds, and blue sevenths over a simple chord backup. He also wrote rag-style tunes with more parts and more chord changes than the usual two-part breakdown. Peacock Rag and Blackberry Blossom move through several chords in each part, which is why bluegrass players took to them.
His timing was clean and his tone was sweet rather than scratchy. On the Folkways records from the 1950s, he still plays with that smooth bow and clear pitch, decades after his Opry peak.
Influences and legacy
Smith learned from Tennessee fiddlers Grady Stringer and Walter Warden. On the Opry he shared stages with Uncle Jimmy Thompson, Uncle Dave Macon, the McGee Brothers, and the Delmore Brothers. He played beside Howdy Forrester in the Tennessee Valley Boys, and Roy Acuff later recorded his Beautiful Brown Eyes.
His influence runs through the whole first generation of bluegrass fiddle. Kenny Baker and Benny Martin grew up in the years when Smith was the Opry’s fiddler, and both carried his long-bow blues sound into bluegrass. His tunes are now standard contest and jam material.
Signature tunes and songs
Blackberry Blossom Peacock Rag Dickson County Blues Beautiful Brown Eyes Pig in the Pen Walking in My Sleep Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County More Pretty Girls Than One.
Essential recordings
Rare Old Time Fiddle Tunes (Starday, 1962) Look! Who Is Here: Old Timers of the Grand Ole Opry, with the McGee Brothers (Folkways, 1964) Milk ‘em in the Evening Blues, with the McGee Brothers (Folkways, 1968) Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (County, 1978)
Awards and honors
Grand Ole Opry member from the 1920s Newport Folk Festival appearance with the McGee Brothers (1965)
Watch and listen
Smith and the Dixieliners play Blackberry Blossom on a 1930s record. Listen to how many notes he fits on each bow stroke.
Dickson County Blues shows his blues side, with slides and flattened notes over a simple guitar backup.
What to learn from Smith
Learn Blackberry Blossom from his 1930s record, not from a modern jam version. His original has fewer notes and more swing, and it will show you where the tune came from. The technique to steal is the long bow. Take a tune you already know and play it with two, three, or four notes per bow stroke instead of one. Keep the bow moving at an even speed. That one change will make your playing sound smoother and closer to the bluegrass fiddle sound that grew out of his.
Sources
Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith, Wikipedia Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith and the Dixieliners, Rare Old Time Fiddle Tunes, Discogs The McGee Brothers and Arthur Smith, Look! Who Is Here, Discogs The McGee Brothers and Arthur Smith, Milk ‘em in the Evening Blues, Discogs Fine Times at Fletcher’s House, Fletcher Bright and Bill Evans, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more early Opry fiddlers. Smith followed Uncle Jimmy Thompson on the Opry stage and played beside Howdy Forrester. Kenny Baker and Benny Martin carried his long-bow blues into bluegrass. Clayton McMichen was the other great radio fiddler of the same years.