{{Infobox musical artist | name = Red Smiley | image = | caption = | birth_name = Arthur Lee Smiley | alias = "Red" Smiley | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|5|17}} | birth_place = Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1972|1|2|1925|5|17}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | instrument = Martin D-45 guitar | genre = Bluegrass, country | occupation = musician | years_active = | label = | associated_acts = Reno and Smiley | website = }}
'''Arthur Lee "Red" Smiley''' (May 17, 1925 – January 2, 1972) was an American bluegrass and country musician, best known for his guitar playing with Don Reno under the name Reno and Smiley.<ref name="Jones">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Loyal |title=Country music humorists and comedians |publisher=University of Illinois Press pg. 307 |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-2520-3369-8}}</ref><ref name= "Campbell">{{cite news |last=Argento |first=Mike |url= https://www.ydr.com/story/opinion/columnists/mike-argento/2019/02/22/bob-campbell-turned-his-passion-guitars-into-york-institution/2938463002/ |title=Bob Campbell turned his passion for guitars into a York County institution |work=York Daily Record |date=February 22, 2019 |access-date=September 8, 2021}}</ref>
Smiley was born in Asheville, North Carolina, United States.<ref name="Wolff">{{cite book |last=Wolff |first=Kurt |title=Country Music: The Rough Guide |publisher=Rough Guides pg. 245 |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-8582-8534-4}}</ref> He began recording with Don Reno in 1952 and the two formed Reno & Smiley. The two's partnership lasted until 1964 with a mutual parting of ways. In the later 1960s he would again work with Reno along with Bill Harrell. Mandolinist David Grisman played with Smiley's band early in his career.<ref name= "Fincastle">{{cite news |last=Berrier |first=Ralph |url= https://roanoke.com/fincastle-festival-from-1960s-lives-online/article_c4070beb-346c-5d71-b56d-23130a2cb291.html |title=Fincastle festival from 1960s lives online |work=The Roanoke Times |date=August 30, 2015 |access-date=September 8, 2021}}</ref> While returning home from a tour of Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States, Smiley died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January 1972 at the age of 46, due to complications with diabetes. He was buried at the DeHart Cemetery in the Jackson Line community of Bryson City, North Carolina.
==Legacy== In 1992, he was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor, now called the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Arthur Lee Red}} Category:1925 births Category:1972 deaths Category:Bluegrass musicians from North Carolina Category:Deaths from diabetes in the United States Category:King Records artists Category:Musicians from Asheville, North Carolina Category:20th-century American singers Category:Country musicians from North Carolina