Guitarist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame

Performer shares stories about her career and thoughts on the King

In September of 1952, Hank Williams returned to the stage of the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Shreveport to perform once again on the Louisiana Hayride radio program.

Their remarkable eight-decade story began like most teenage love stories: It was simple. Dude bagged groceries at a small grocery store in Cedar Grove, and more than once, he noticed Genny sitting in her family’s car reading a book while she waited for her mom.

Smith’s other claim to fame – besides his Gibson playing – was his habit of wearing two feathered angel wings while performing. Smith was prone to theatrics and even used a system of ropes and pulleys to “fly” through his church temple in New Orleans.

In the mid-1800s, long before the proliferation of automobile travel, steamboats were a common form of transportation in Louisiana. Companies in New Orleans offered steamboat passenger service across Louisiana all the way to the bustling inland port of Jefferson, Texas, and advertising stops at “all intermediate landings on Red River.

Few artists have had as much influence on American music as Caddo Parish native Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. From Johnny Cash to the Beach Boys to Nirvana to Frank Sinatra to Eric Clapton, performers have recorded Lead Belly’s songs.