Town and Country Guitar Hits - Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith

 

Chicken Strut

Town and Country Guitar Hits

The Amazing and Fantastic Town & Country Guitar of Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith

Starday SLP 321

1965

From the back cover: Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith has become a living legend because of his amazing and fantastic musician- ship on the guitar.

In this album, Arthur Smith plays a Martin Open String Flat Top Guitar which is unamplified and non- electric. The only amplification is the microphone pickup at the Arthur Smith Recording Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, where these recordings were made.

A wonderful selection of America's most beloved melodies were used to showcase Arthur's guitar talent. Such great old songs as HEART OF MY HEART, GLOW WORM, HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT, MAGGIE, IDA, IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME, PICTURE ON THE WALL, and BILL BAILEY, are combined with some fresh new instrumental compositions of Arthur Smith entitled FLAT TOP HARI KARI, CHICKEN STRUT, ELEVEN STRING RAG and CAROLINA COTTON.

Guitar Fanciers and Arthur Smith fans will recall that Arthur's now immortal "GUITAR BOOGIE" was performed on an unamplified Martin Open String Flat Top guitar. Since then, Arthur Smith has won recognition for playing the Spanish Electric Guitar, the mandolin, the banjo, and other string instruments. In this album, STARDAY wished to recreate the dexterity and the sound of Arthur Smith picking on his open string guitar using many of the chords, licks, and phases that he used on his GUITAR BOOGIE hit.

At present, Arthur Smith is a fabulously popular entertainer on WBT-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina with over 3,000,000 daily listeners. In addition, his syndicated television show is carried in over 40 of America's major cities and his radio transcriptions are heard on hundreds of radio stations. The musical comedy, and folksy entertainment of Arthur Smith is a way of life in the Carolinas and the Arthur Smith Show plays to standing room audiences wherever they are booked.

Arthur originally hails from Kershaw, a small town in South Carolina, where he first learned to play the guitar.

We think it is notable that Arthur Smith has been associated with Radio WBT and WBT-TV in Charlotte since 1943 except for a couple of years when he was in the Navy. He has done a top selling job for many sponsors on radio and TV because of his warm and personable method of entertainment. Stories and pictures of Arthur Smith and his Crackerjacks have appeared in Look Magazine and many other publications. His Carolina Callin' Show on CBS Network was given the Billboard Magazine Award for being the outstanding Folk & Country Show appearing on a major U.S. radio station. Procter & Gamble is the newest major firm to take advantage of the vast and devoted Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith following.

The Country and small town flavor that has made Arthur so popular is dominant in the musical stylings of this album and for that reason, we feel this album is appropriately titled "TOWN & COUNTRY" GUITAR. "TOWN & COUNTRY" is the name of a very famous radio network under the ownership and direction of Connie B. Gay, a noted Country Music entrepeneur and personality and the name TOWN & COUNTRY is used here with the permission of Connie B. Gay. – DON PIERCE, President Starday Records

Flat Top Hari Kari

Maggie

In The Good Old Summertime

Picture On The Wall

Carolina Cotton

Heart Of My Heart

Hot Time In The Old Town

Chicken Strut

Bill Bailey's Guitar

Eleven String Rag

Glow Worm

Ida