In 1969, four years after country-pop icon Marty Robbins reached Number One with “Ribbon of Darkness,” Smith cut her own distinctive take on Gordon Lightfoot’s moody folk tune. It was another major hit that reflected her own turbulent life at the time, including a divorce from her first husband. Nearly eight years later, Smith was a guest on an episode of Robbins’ Spotlight TV series, sharing the stage with the “El Paso” singer to perform her 1965 song “Then and Only Then.” (Robbins delivered the Carter Family classic “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes.”)
Coincidentally, in the late Sixties, Smith met 11-year-old superfan Marty Stuart at a concert in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Stuart told his mother — who had named him after Marty Robbins — that he was going to marry the blue-eyed Smith. In fact, he did, tying the knot with her in 1997.
