Arthur Smith Studios

Smith was born in Clinton, South Carolina, where his father – Clayton Smith, a loom fixer in a Kershaw, South Carolina, textile mill – directed the local orchestra. When his son demonstrated musical proficiency at an early age, Clayton taught Arthur to play several instruments including the trumpet, mandolin, and fiddle. By age thirteen, Arthur had a recording contract with RCA; two years later, he was hosting a radio show in Florence. His Arthur Smith Quartet began performing Dixieland music on a daily radio show in Spartanburg in the early 1940s. Switching genres (to country music) and names (to Arthur Smith and the Carolina Crackerjacks), the band moved to Charlotte in 1943 to perform on the WBT Carolina Hayride radio show. Following a stint with the U.S. Navy during World War II, Smith returned to Charlotte to resume his performances on WBT radio. His instrumental single “Guitar Boogie” became a hit in 1946 as the first country guitar recording to sell over one million records. His folk and country music shows helped WBT win the first Billboard Local Program Competition in Folk-Western music in 1948. The station began television broadcasts in July 1949. Within two years, Smith and his band were part of the channel’s first locally produced live television show. Smith became a fixture on WBT and WBTV programming with such long-running shows as the Top of the Morning radio show (ran for 30 years) and The Arthur Smith Show, one of the first nationally syndicated country music television variety shows (ran for 32 years). In 1955, Smith and longtime contributor Don Reno recorded an instrumental banjo duet entitled “Feudin’ Banjos” that was later incorporated into the 1972 movie Deliverance. 

The reputation of Arthur Smith Studios spread via word of mouth, given Smith’s prominence in the music industry. Numerous artists recorded at the studio, including Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Pat Boone, and George Hamilton IV. In 1965, James Brown recorded his hit single “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” at the studio. Christian evangelist Billy Graham recorded his Hour of Decision radio show at Arthur Smith Studios. In 1981 Smith sold a 90 percent stake in Arthur Smith Studios to Nick Hice of Hice Music Group, but without Smith’s daily involvement, the studio struggled. A subsequent purchaser continued the recording studio under the name Studio East into the early 2000s before closing down operations. The building was later converted into office space.