Connie Smith

Thanks to her powerful voice and the lonely desperation she so effortlessly manages to express, Connie Smith is considered one of the most influential vocalists in country music history. She moved from being an Ohio housewife to country stardom thanks to 1964's hit single "Once a Day," which topped the country chart for eight weeks and earned a Grammy nomination. While her commercial peak in the late-'60s yielded a string of Top Ten singles, she remained popular into the '70s. Smith more or less retired at the end of that decade, but in 1998 she made a bold comeback with a critically acclaimed self-titled LP. She continued to perform into the 21st century, returning every now and then to record a well-received new set of songs with producer Marty Stuart, including 2011's Long Line of Heartaches, 2021's The Cry of the Heart, and 2024's Love, Prison, Wisdom and Heartaches.