A while back we uploaded a postcard of Little Wayne Hass. The card was printed from one of Hugh Morton’s photos, and the caption mentions that Hass was “Featured with Arthur Smith & Crackerjacks WBTV-WBT-MGM Records.” (And yes, this is the Arthur Smith that wrote the dueling banjos theme that was ripped off in the 1972 movie Deliverance. Smith sued and won.)
WBTV is the call number for the Charlotte television station, which first aired in 1949. It appears that Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks performed in Charlotte (perhaps regularly?) on the station, but I can’t seem to find out much more about the band or their NC roots. Do you know anything?
The Hugh Morton Collection of Photographs and Films has several other images of Arthur Smith and the Crackerjacks, which you can view here.
In the photo below, Wayne Hass is in the back row, second from the left.
