At a country music fair in Mississippi in 1970, Marty Stuart met Connie Smith, asked for an autograph, and went home with a prediction for his mother: someday, Marty Stuart would marry Connie Smith.
Connie Smith did not hear about that prediction for roughly 25 years. Yet Connie Smith remembered meeting Marty Stuart. The reason had less to do with romance than with a steel guitar.
A young fan with questions
Connie Smith had come to perform at the Choctaw Indian Fair near Marty Stuart’s hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Marty Stuart’s mother was a fan, and the family had Connie Smith’s records at home. For the concert, Marty Stuart even persuaded his mother to buy a new shirt, hoping Connie Smith might notice.
Marty Stuart and Marty Stuart’s sister had their photograph taken with Connie Smith. Marty Stuart got an autograph, then spent time talking with the musicians. Connie Smith later recalled watching Marty Stuart question steel guitarist Weldon Myrick about the instrument, right down to the strings. Connie Smith was struck by how much such a young fan already knew to ask.
On the ride home, Marty Stuart made the declaration to Marty Stuart’s mother. To a parent, it may have sounded like the sort of thing a child says after meeting a favorite singer. Connie Smith knew nothing about it. What stayed with Connie Smith was the boy’s curiosity about music.
Meeting again through music
As Marty Stuart built a career in country music, Marty Stuart occasionally saw Connie Smith around the Grand Ole Opry. Seeing Connie Smith was different from getting to know Connie Smith, though. The conversation that changed their relationship came years later, before a celebrity softball game.
Backstage, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith sat together and talked about music. Connie Smith was impressed by Marty Stuart’s knowledge. When Connie Smith later saw Marty Stuart at the Opry, Connie Smith asked whether Marty Stuart would be interested in working together.
Marty Stuart said yes and called songwriter Harlan Howard. Within days, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, and Harlan Howard had written a song together. The connection that began with a boy asking about steel guitar strings had become a working partnership between two country musicians.
Marty Stuart and Connie Smith went on to write more songs together. In July 1997, Marty Stuart and Connie Smith married. The following year, Marty Stuart produced Connie Smith’s self-titled album, bringing Connie Smith back to the studio with new music.
What Connie Smith remembered
It is tempting to tell this story as though a boy’s prediction made everything else inevitable. The years between that Mississippi concert and the wedding were full of separate careers and lives. Marty Stuart and Connie Smith did not become close simply because Marty Stuart once said they would marry.
The detail Connie Smith remembered offers a more interesting beginning. At their first meeting, Marty Stuart was paying attention to the people making the music as well as the star onstage. When Marty Stuart and Connie Smith finally connected as adults, they began by talking about that same shared interest.
Marty Stuart had remembered Connie Smith’s voice and the day they met. Connie Smith had remembered the young fan asking a steel guitarist unusually good questions. Neither knew then where the story would lead.