Velma Smith, born on 27 July 1927 in Epley Station, Kentucky, was a pioneering session musician who broke several barriers for women in Nashville's country music industry. She became the first woman to perform solo on the Grand Ole Opry, the first female session guitarist in Music City, and the first woman to join the famed "A-Team" of top-tier session players during the Nashville Sound era, cementing her role in shaping the genre's sound.

Discovered alongside her sister on a Kentucky radio station by Bill Monroe, Smith went on to play bass with Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys before joining the backing bands of Ernest Tubb and Carl Smith. As a rhythm guitarist, widely regarded as the first to play the role on Nashville recordings, she worked with artists including Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings and Jim Reeves. She was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in January 2014 and died later that year.