Velma Elizabeth Smith

Velma was a pioneer female guitar player in Nashville. Her performing career began with a radio appearance with her sister Mildred on WHOP in Hopkinsville, KY in 1939. Bill Monroe heard the Williams Sisters at a show shortly afterwards and suggested an audition at the Grand Ole Opry the following Saturday. They appeared on the Opry that night. After her sister left the act to raise a family, Velma toured with Roy Acuff where she met and married James H. “Hal” Smith, a fiddle player who went on to become a music industry entrepreneur, co-founding with Ray Price the highly successful Pamper Music publishing company as well as a number of other ventures.

Velma and Hal retired from the road in the 1950s and Velma began her own separate career as a recording session guitarist, playing rhythm guitar while working with most of the best recording artists until she retired some 20 years later. She is believed to be the first female recording session musician in Nashville. Her distinguished work led to her induction into the Musicians Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Velma was preceded in death by her husband Hal in 2008.

Graveside services will be held 11:00 AM Saturday, August 2, at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, TN