Louis "Lou" Smith was a Country and Western singer who was born in Joaquin, Texas

Joaquin, Texas

Joaquin is a city in northeastern Shelby County, Texas, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is located on U.S. Highway 84 and the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad.-Geography:Joaquin is located at ....

. Hailing from Vidor, Texas

Vidor, Texas

Vidor is a city in western Orange County, Texas, United States. A city of Southeast Texas, it lies at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Farm to Market Road 105, six miles east of Beaumont. The town is mainly a bedroom community for the nearby refining complexes in Beaumont and Port Arthur and...

, he recorded for Top Talent Records at one time, and reportedly had gotten his start into music when the nephew of Tex Ritter

Tex Ritter

Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...

, Ken Ritter, heard him perform at a local honky tonk.

Lou played many of the local Southeast Texas clubs and honky tonks. At one point country legend George Jones

George Jones

George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....

 sang backup for Lou during Jones' early teens when he was just beginning his career. His notable songs include "My Name is Lou", "I'll Be the One", "Born to Be Lonely", "Always a Winner", and "Close to My Heart".

Singles

Year	Single	US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
1960	"Cruel Love"	9
1961	"I'm Wondering"	21