Connie Smith

==Musical styles and vocal ability==
Connie Smith's sound is defined by the [[Nashville Sound]] musical style, primarily during her breakthrough years in the 1960s. While most Nashville Sound recordings of the time mainly included full orchestras, Smith's sound remained more traditional with its use of [[steel guitar]] and her twangy vocals, while still featuring some pop-influenced instrumentation to provide urban pop appeal. Critics have largely praised Smith's use of the steel guitar, which have often been described as "sharp" and "prominent".<ref name="roughguide"/> Her steel guitar player [[Weldon Myrick]] is often credited with creating what Smith has called "The Connie Smith Sound". In an interview with [[Colin Escott]] in his book ''Born to Sing'', Myrick recalls how Smith's producer ([[Bob Ferguson (music)|Bob Ferguson]]) wanted the guitar to sound, "He came out and said he wanted a bright sound, and he adjusted my controls. I thought it was an awfully thin sound, but it wound up being very popular."{{sfn|Escott|2001|p=12}}

Smith's vocal delivery has also been considered to be part of her musical style. Writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted in 2012 that Smith sings with a "cool, authoritative ease, a skill that brought her to the attention of some of Nashville's finest songwriters."<ref name="Erlewine 4674"/> Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann called her singing "a pillar-of-fire delivery sobbed with desolation."{{sfn|Bufwack|Oermann|2003|p=292}} Thom Jurek of AllMusic stated that Smith's vocals offer "sophisticated emotional delivery" and that "her control and phrasing remain a high-water mark today."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jurek |first1=Thom |title=''Born to Sing'': Connie Smith: Songs, reviews, credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/born-to-sing-box-mw0000004326 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=May 23, 2021}}</ref>