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Beloved CMT Personality Hazel Smith Dies at 83

CMT is mourning the loss of one of its most revered columnists and hosts.

Hazel Smith passed away Sunday (March 18) at her home in Madison, Tenn. Her health had begun declining following a cancer operation in 2007.

Smith began her career on Music Row in the late 1960s and held roles as a journalist, personal assistant and talent manager, and she is even credited with naming the “Outlaw” movement that launched the careers of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser.

At CMT.com during the early to mid-2000s, Smith wrote the weekly news column, Hot Dish, and subsequently hosted the series Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith, a combination cooking and movie show that frequently featured country stars and even CMT’s Cody Alan as guests.

In 2001, she published the popular Hot Dish: Cookin’ with Country Stars.

In recognition of her service to CMT and the music industry at large, the channel launched the Music Row Storytellers event in her name in 2016 with the Music Health Alliance as its beneficiary.

Smith was 83.