Story Behind the Song: ‘Country Bumpkin’ by Cal Smith

"Country Bumpkin" was the biggest song of country music artist Cal Smith's entire career. He personally picked the song for an album he was working on.

The real story is, he was done working on the album when he ran across the song written by Don Wayne. Smith said after listening to a demo, "That has to be one of the finest songs I've ever heard."

The song hit him right away because he grew up on a farm and he knew what living the country life was all about.

Smith bumped one of the songs from the completed album to make room for "Country Bumpkin". He also renamed the album to make the song the title track.

The song entered the charts on March 9, 1974. In 11 weeks it climbed to number one. The Country Music Association named it Song of the Year as did The Academy of Country Music.