The Carl Smith Touch

AMG Review of The Carl Smith Touch

Greg Adams
All Music Guide

Carl Smith's recording of Eddie Cochran's "Cut Across Shorty" on The Carl Smith Touch isn't ockabilly, but it is close enough to merit its inclusion on the first volume of Sony's Rockabilly Stars series. "Cut Across Shorty" was only a minor success as a single, and Smith abandoned his occasional flirtations with ock & roll thereafter. There is nothing else on The Carl Smith Touch with much of a ock orientation (except the guitar solo on "The Little White House"); country allads, shuffles, and plenty of steel guitar typify the rest. Smith passed through the Nashville sound explosion practically unscathed, and kept making moderately successful honky tonk music into the '70s.