Cal Smith

Cal Smith
Birth name	Calvin Grant Shofner
Born	April 7, 1932 (1932-04-07)
Origin	Gans, Oklahoma
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1966–present(part time performances)

Calvin Grant Shofner (born April 7, 1932), known professionally as Cal Smith, is an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hit "Country Bumpkin."

Career

Smith was born on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, and was raised in Oakland, California. He began his music career performing at the Remember Me Cafe in San Francisco at the age of 15, but he was not financially successful at first. Throughout the 1950s, he was not able to continue his music career, so he worked at various other jobs, including truck driving and bronco busting. He appeared on the California Hayride television show in the mid-1950s before serving two years in the military.

After his discharge, he began playing in a band in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1961, country music legend Ernest Tubb heard the band play and, after an audition, hired Smith to play guitar for the Texas Troubadours. Thus, Smith is heard playing in most of Tubb's 1960s recordings. His first solo single was 'Tear Stained Pillow/Eleven Long Years on the local Plaid label. (Mint copies are valued at $25). Smith's stage name began to catch on after he released his second solo single, "I'll Just Go Home," in 1966 for Kapp Records, and he first cracked the Billboard charts with his second single, "The Only Thing I Want."

Smith permanently parted ways with Tubb and the Texas Troubadours in 1969, and he released his first solo album, Drinking Champagne, in 1969. The album's title track had reached the Top 40 on the country charts the previous year.

In 1970, Smith signed with Decca Records, and his popularity quickly soared, starting off with his 1972 top 10 hit, "I've Found Someone of My Own." He began recording songs written by some of the biggest names in the industry; for instance, in March 1973 his rendition of Bill Anderson's "The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" became his first number-one country hit. When Decca became MCA Records in 1973, Cal enjoyed his biggest successes. In 1974, he recorded two of his greatest hits, "It's Time to Pay the Fiddler" and "Country Bumpkin," which received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

Later career

Smith continued to have success with MCA Records into the late 70's including the Top 20 singles "Between Lust And Watching TV" (1974), "She Talked A Lot About Texas" (1975), "I Just Came Home To Count The Memories" (1977), and "Come See About Me" (1977). After this he continued to have minor successes that included "The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire" in 1979.^{[citation needed]}

Smith released his last album, Stories of Life by Cal Smith, in 1986 on Step One Records, where he scored a minor hit that year with "King Lear".^{[citation needed]}

Life today

Smith and his wife, Darlene, live in the Branson, Missouri area, where they pass a great deal of their time fishing.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions		Label
		US Country	US
1966	All the World Is Lonely Now	40	—	Kapp
1967	Goin' to Cal's Place	31	—
1968	Travelin' Man	34	—
	At Home with Cal	—	—
	Drinking Champagne	33	—
1969	Cal Smith Sings	34	170
1970	Country Hit Parade	—	—
1971	The Best of Cal Smith	41	—
1972	I've Found Someone of My Own	5	191	Decca
1973	Cal Smith	20	—	MCA
1974	Country Bumpkin	4	—
1975	It's Time to Pay the Fiddler	8	—
	My Kind of Country	17	—
1976	Jason's Farm	16	—
1977	I Just Came Home to Count the Memories	38	—
1986	Stories of Life	—	—	Step One

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
		US Country	CAN Country
1966	"Silver Due On the Bluegrass Tonight"	—	—	single only
1967	"The Only Thing I Want"	58	—	All the World Is Lonely Now
	"I'll Never Be Lonesome with You"	61	—	Goin' to Cal's Place
	"I'll Sail My Ship Alone"	—	—
1968	"Destination Atlanta G.A."	60	—	Travelin' Man
	"Jacksonville"	58	—	At Home with Cal
	"Drinking Champagne"	35	—	Drinking Champagne
1969	"Empty Arms"	—	—
	"It Takes All Night Long"	51	—	Cal Smith Sings
	"You Can't Housebreak a Tomcat"	55	—	The Best of Cal Smith
1970	"Heaven Is Just a Touch Away"	47	—
	"The Difference Between Going and Really Gone"	70	—
1971	"That's What It's Like to Be Lonesome"	58	41	I've Found Someone of My Own
	"Free Streets"	—	—	singles only
	"Save My Wife"	—	—
1972	"I've Found Someone of My Own"	4	13	I've Found Someone of My Own
	"For My Baby"	58	—
1973	"The Lord Knows I'm Drinking"A	1	2
	"I Can Feel the Leavin' Coming On"	25	39	Cal Smith
	"I've Loved You All Over the World"	flip	—
	"Bleep You"	63	—
	"An Hour and a Six-Pack"	flip	95
1974	"Country Bumpkin"	1	2	Country Bumpkin
	"Between Lust and Watching TV"	11	15
1975	"It's Time to Pay the Fiddler"	1	1	It's Time to Pay the Fiddler
	"She Talked a Lot About Texas"	13	5
	"Jason's Farm"	12	7	Jason's Farm
1976	"Thunderstorms"	33	22
	"MacArthur's Hand"	43	47
	"Woman Don't Try to Sing My Song"	38	—	I Just Came Home to Count the Memories
1977	"I Just Came Home to Count the Memories"	15	10
	"Come See About Me"	23	47
	"Helen"	53	—	singles only
1978	"Throwin' Memories On the Fire"	51	—
	"I'm Just a Farmer"	73	—
	"Bits and Pieces of Life"	68	—
1979	"The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire"	71	—
	"One Little Skinny Rib"	91	42
	"The Room at the Top of the Stairs"	92	—
1982	"If I Ever Need a Lady" (w/ Billy Parker)	53	—
	"Too Many Irons in the Fire" (w/ Billy Parker)	68	—
1986	"I Know It's Not Over"	—	—	Stories of Life
	"King Lear"	75	—

• ^A"The Lord Knows I'm Drinking" also peaked at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Awards

• 1974 — Academy of Country Music - Song of the Year
• 1974 — Country Music Association - Song of the Year
• 1974 — Country Music Association - Single of the Year

References

• Cal Smith at CMT.com