CMT Blog: Hazel Smith

Last week I gushed over a book of fictional stories and “true” recollections by country songwriters called A Guitar and a Pen. I was particularly effusive about the tale of Bill Monroe’s encounter with Frank Sinatra at the White House, which the book — and I, in turn — identified as having been written by CMT.com’s Hazel Smith. Hazel just told me that while the core of the story is true, she didn’t write it. Nor did she accompany Monroe on the trip to Washington, as the story says. These substantial departures from fact call into question all the other pieces presented as real happenings.

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Even the most artfully crafted song is a mere “teaser” to a longer story. We hear a great song and wish we knew more, as we do, for instance, when we listen to “He Stopped Loving Her Today” or “Strawberry Wine.” In a new book called A Guitar and a Pen, 25 of country music’s most gifted lyricists are given ample space to tell their stories instead of being limited to three verses, a bridge and a chorus.

Most of the pieces here are works of fiction, but a few are true chronicles. Shining brightest in the latter category is CMT’s Hazel Smith’s account of accompanying Bill Monroe to Washington, D.C., where he was to receive a presidential award, and watching helplessly as he imposed his iron will on everyone he met, from airport security guards to a strangely-subdued Frank Sinatra. On the fictional side, Bobby Braddock serves up a hilarious tale of amorous deception on the Internet, while Bob McDill introduces a camp cook too sensitive for mere mortals to trifle with.

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