Cal Smith
| Cal Smith | |
|---|---|
Cal Smith in 1974
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Calvin Grant Shofner |
| Born |
April 7, 1932 Gans, Oklahoma, United States |
| Died | October 10, 2013 (aged 81) Branson, Missouri, United States |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1955-1957-1966-2013 |
| Labels | Kapp, Decca, MCA, Soundwaves, Step One |
| Associated acts | Ernest Tubb |
Calvin Grant Shofner (April 7, 1932 — October 10, 2013), known professionally as Cal Smith, was an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hit "Country Bumpkin".
Calvin Grant Shofner was born on April 7, 1932, in Gans, Oklahoma, as the youngest of three sons of James "Otto" and Ethel (Quinn) Shofner. During the Great Depression, the Smiths headed west and settled in Oakland, California, and he grew up in San Jose, California. Smith 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. 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, and was later a Top 10 hit for George Strait in 1990.
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