According to Don Wayne--Cal Smith’s signature hit song, “Country Bumpkin,” is not the kind of song that a lot of musicians like to play! Don says, “There’s six beats in the first measure of the tune. Although it’s really nothing more than a split measure—it’s out of kilter and throws a lot of musicians!  A lot of them just don’t like that kind of stuff!”

Don remembers, “I actually wrote the song at the suggestion of Jim Ed Brown.  I ran into Jim Ed at WSM Radio and he told me that he needed a song for his next recording session and would I try to write him a ‘chant’?  He asked me if I knew what he was talking about. I told him I thought I knew and that he wanted a song like ‘The Three Bells’ or ‘Morning.’ He said ‘that’s right—that’s exactly the kind of song I want.’”

“So I sat down and started writing ‘Country Bumpkin’ in just that manner. Instead of using a steady beat—I’d strum the guitar and then say a phrase. And that’s the way the song was written.”

Don says, “The actual idea for the song itself came from several music business folks telling me that my songs were ‘Too hillbilly and that nobody wanted to hear about the frost on the pumpkin.’ “That was about 1970 and the idea stayed in the back of my mind until the summer of 1973. Then one morning as I was driving into Nashville I started putting a song together in my mind about the greenhorn songwriter bringing his tunes to Nashville and meeting some big shot fat cat music publisher who tells him that ‘we don't want to hear about the frost on the pumpkin so take your songs and go back home, country bumpkin.’”

“But the more I worked it over in my mind, the more I got away from that scenario and in just a few minutes I had written three choruses.  And then I started working with the idea of the greenhorn country bumpkin walking into a bar and being so awkward he didn't even know how to order a drink! And from there the whole story just started to come together and I immediately started thinking I had a hit song!”

“Country Bumpkin” entered the country music charts March 9th, 1974 and made it to number one. It was the 1974 CMA Song Of The Year and The Academy of Country Music Song Of The Year. It was Cal Smith’s 18th chart record and was on the charts for 15  weeks.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics