Ray Smith, a singer steeped in rockabilly and country traditions, cut sides for the storied Sun Records imprint and remains chiefly associated with the 1958 chart success “Rockin’ Little Angel.” Born October 31, 1938, in Melber, Kentucky, he grew up the son of a sharecropper and sheet-metal worker. Although he taught himself music, public performances waited until he entered the Air Force in 1952, after stints driving a Coca-Cola truck, running an oven at a commercial bakery, laboring in a shoe factory, and making moonshine with his brother-in-law.
While in basic training in Syracuse, New York, he was asked to appear in a talent contest and took first prize with his version of Hank Williams’ “Lovesick Blues.” That victory led him to learn piano, guitar, and harmonica. Stationed in California, he began weekend club work and, in 1956, organized the band The Rock & Roll Boys, whose members were Raymond Jones on guitar, Dean Perkins on steel guitar, James Webb on bass and rhythm guitar, and Henry Stevens on drums. The group played venues in Kentucky and Illinois and, that same year, landed its own local television program on a Paducah, Kentucky station billed as Ray Smith & the Rock & Roll Boys.
Manager Charlie Terrell caught the broadcast, signed Smith, and arranged a Sun Records contract. Judd Phillips, brother of label founder Sam Phillips, produced the sessions and applied a smoother sheen than most classic Sun recordings, yet Smith’s strong voice and tight band shone through. His fourth single, the 1959 release “Rockin’ Little Angel”—an up-tempo reworking of the folk staple “Buffalo Gals”—became a major hit. Although his first three singles appeared on Sun, “Rockin’ Little Angel” and nearly all later Phillips Brothers sides were issued on the Judd subsidiary.
A string of ballads that followed made little chart impression, so Smith continued as a journeyman rock & roll and country artist, recording for Vee-Jay, Warner Brothers, Smash, Tollie, Vix, and Cinnamon over the next fifteen years. In the 1970s he moved to Canada, where he performed regularly and also booked frequent dates in Las Vegas. His life ended abruptly on November 29, 1979, when he took his own life.
