Fiddler Glen Smith (April 11, 1923 – April 5, 2001) grew up during the Great Depression in Woodlawn, Virginia. He was the youngest of nine children born to Creed and Lydia Edwards Smith. Times were difficult for the large family. He later joked, “Back then, there were about 14 different ways you could fix blackberries. It was definitely catch a rabbit or miss a meal.”

Smith bought his first fiddle at age 15 with $10 he had earned working in a furniture factory. He taught himself to play by listening to country music on the radio. The first tune he learned was “You Are My Sunshine.” In 1944, he married Helen Bedsaul from North Carolina. They stayed together until his death 56 years later.

Smith’s music career began in 1942 when he played his first paid square dance in Dover, Delaware. By the late 1940s, he was performing live on radio stations in Virginia and North Carolina. After living in Ohio for much of the 1950s, he moved to Calhoun County, West Virginia, around 1960 to work in the timber industry. He then settled in Elizabeth, Wirt County, and formed a band called the Mountain State Pickers, with his son Delano Smith and Kenny Kendall on guitar, Hal Cotrell on mandolin, and Mike Wade on banjo. One of their biggest moments was performing with the Pride of West Virginia marching band at West Virginia University’s 1974 homecoming game.

After the Mountain State Pickers disbanded, Smith continued to play across the state, earning a reputation as one of West Virginia’s best fiddlers. He often performed with his son and with fellow musician Dwight Diller, who Smith said played a similar style of banjo as his father had.

Outside of music, Smith enjoyed carpentry and built his own furniture. His strong fiddling style and powerful bow arm helped him win many awards at the Vandalia Gathering and other state contests. In 1998, he received the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folklife honor.

He died in a Parkersburg hospital three years later. His family mentioned his Vandalia Award in the first sentence of his obituary.

One of his favorite sayings was, “I started out to be a millionaire, but I found out fiddling was easier and a lot more fun."