Hobart Smith

Hobart Smith (May 10, 1897—January 11, 1965) was an American old-time musician. He was most notable for his appearance with his sister Texas Gladden on a series of Library of Congress recordings in the 1940s and his later appearances at various festivals during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Smith is often remembered for his virtuosic performances on the banjo, and had also mastered various other instruments, including the fiddle, guitar, piano, harmonica, accordion and organ.

Biography

Early life Hobart Smith was born near Saltville, Virginia in 1897, the oldest son of eight children born to Louvine and Alexander King Smith. Hobart believed the ballad-singing tradition in his family dated back at least seven generations to when the Smiths immigrated from England. Both of Hobart's grandfathers were fiddle players, and his parents were banjo players. These early appearances brought them to the attention of various folklorists and musicologists, including Alan Lomax, who at the time was working for the U.S. Library of Congress.

In 1942, Smith recorded 40 tracks for Lomax at Saltville, among them "Banging Breakdown", Cuckoo Bird, "Wayfaring Stranger", and "Sourwood Mountain". Lomax introduced Smith to Moses Asch, and in 1946 Smith traveled to New York to record for Asch's Disc label. Both Lomax and Asch continued to record Smith over the years, sometimes as a soloist, and sometimes performing duets with his sister or other singers such as Almeda Riddle and Bessie Jones. A second, less formal session was conducted by folk music teacher Fleming Brown at Brown's home, parts of which were released in 2005 by Smithsonian Folkways. At both recordings, Smith was already feeling the painful effects of a heart embolism that would take his life on January 11, 1965. Modern folk and bluegrass players still study his recordings for their technical precision and expressive energy, and his work continues to appear in collections like In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes and Blue Ridge Legacy. Today, music historians recognize Smith as a key link between the early roots of Appalachian string music and its revival in the twentieth century.

Discography Folk Music of the United States: Album 7- Anglo-American Ballads From the Archive of American Folk Song (w/ The Library of Congress, Justin Begley, Texas Gladden, Horton Barker, Lena Bare Turbyfill, and I. G. Greer) (The Library Of Congress, 1943) Of Saltville, Virginia (Folk-Legacy, 1964)

Compilations Blue Ridge Legacy (Rounder 11661-1799-2, 2001) In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes (Smithsonian Folkways 40141, 59628AM, 2005)