Carolina Buddies | en

Walter "Kid" Smith recorded for Columbia in New York City around 1930 with a group called the Carolina Buddies. There was another session the very next day for another label, ARC, who also recorded Smith as a member of another group, Radio's Popular Wild West Entertainers, fronted by Patt Patterson and Lois Dexter. Smith was credited as Kid Williams, and it is presumed that Smith (Williams) does the harmonica solos, his first appearance on record with this instrument. A week later, some of these same musicians re-cut some of the same material for Victor, using aliases (with Walter dodging as Gid Smith).

The Carolina Buddies reconvened in the next year with a different lineup, including legends of North Carolina old-timey music Odell Smith and Woodlief. This session produced some of the best recordings Smith has ever done, including his amazing song "My Evolution Girl," in which he takes a comic slant on the Scopes trial. .