It sounds like the opening of a country song one with a long wait between its first verse and its happy ending. But the story is more interesting than a childhood prophecy coming true. Smith didn’t hear about Stuart’s prediction for roughly 25 years. What she remembered from their first meeting wasn’t a romantic declaration, but a curious boy asking a steel guitarist unusually thoughtful questions.
In 1970, Smith performed at the Choctaw Indian Fair near Philadelphia, Mississippi, Stuart’s hometown. Stuart’s mother was a fan, and Smith’s records were part of the family’s musical world. Stuart was excited about the chance to meet the singer in person.
He was so determined to make a good impression that he persuaded his mother to buy him a new shirt for the occasion. Stuart and his sister had their photograph taken with Smith, and he got her autograph. For a young fan, it was already a memorable day.
But Stuart was interested in more than meeting the star. He spent time talking with the musicians, including steel guitarist Weldon Myrick. Smith later recalled watching the boy ask Myrick about the instrument including its strings and being struck by how much he knew to ask.
That detail helps explain why the meeting stuck with Smith. Stuart wasn’t simply starstruck; he was listening closely to the music and the people who made it.
On the ride home, Stuart told his mother that he would marry Smith someday. To a parent, it might have sounded like a child’s fanciful response to meeting a favorite singer.
Smith didn’t know about the prediction. The memory she carried from the fair was the young fan’s conversation with Myrick. Their first encounter thus held two different stories: Stuart remembered the singer he hoped to marry, while Smith remembered a curious boy who wanted to understand the steel guitar.
That difference matters. In hindsight, the prediction can make the whole story seem destined. But it was only one moment in a much longer history one neither of them could have understood at the time.
As the years passed, Stuart built his own career in country music. He and Smith would occasionally see one another around the Grand Ole Opry, but knowing who someone is and even crossing paths with them is not the same as becoming close.
Their relationship began to change before a celebrity softball game, when Stuart and Smith sat together backstage and talked about music. Smith was impressed by Stuart’s knowledge. Their connection took shape not through the old prediction, which Smith still hadn’t heard, but through a shared interest and a conversation between two working musicians.
Later, when Smith saw Stuart at the Opry, she asked whether he would be interested in working with her. Stuart said yes and called songwriter Harlan Howard. Within days, the three had written a song together.
A childhood meeting had become a professional partnership. The boy who had once asked Myrick about steel guitar strings was now a fellow musician whose understanding of the craft impressed Smith.
Stuart and Smith went on to write more songs together. In July 1997, they married. The following year, Stuart produced Smith’s self-titled album, helping bring her back into the recording studio with new music.
Their story is often told as a prediction fulfilled: a boy says he will marry a country star, and decades later, he does. It’s an irresistible hook, but it can make the years in between disappear. Stuart and Smith had separate lives and careers; they did not become close simply because he had announced his intentions as a child.
What brought them together as adults was something more grounded. They talked about music, recognized one another’s knowledge and experience, and began working together. Their first meeting had already offered a hint of that connection Stuart’s attention was on the craft behind the performance, as well as on the singer in front of him.
Stuart remembered Smith’s voice and the day he met her. Smith remembered the boy asking Myrick questions about the steel guitar. Neither of them knew where that first encounter would lead.
The famous prediction gives the story its romance. But the detail Smith remembered gives it its heart: before they became partners, they were two people drawn together by the music itself. Sometimes a country love story begins not with fate, but with a good question.