Her debut single "Once a Day" was nominated at the Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in November 1964 and remained at the top position for eight weeks, the first time a female artist had achieved this feat with Smith holding the record for over 50 years until it was broken by Trisha Yearwood.

Anderson's manager Hubert Long brought the demo recording to the RCA Victor label where producer Chet Atkins heard it.

[23] Dan Cooper of Allmusic gave the disc a positive reception and described Smith as "a down-home Streisand fronting The Lennon Sisters.

[27] In 1965, RCA issued Smith's follow-up single written by Anderson titled "Then and Only Then", which reached number four on the Billboard country songs chart.

[34] In February 1967, RCA's subsidiary budget label Camden released Smith's next studio LP titled Connie in the Country.

[43] The duo's first duet sessions produced a cover of Sonny James's "Young Love", which reached the top 20 of the Billboard country songs chart.

Christian radio programs often opened their shows with the duo's gospel music, which influenced RCA to release "If God Is Dead (Who's That Living in My Soul)" as a single in 1970.

[46] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised Smith's recordings from 1968 to 1972, highlighting the strength of her vocals: "She may have been given some of the best songs, but the thing is, she deserved them: few others could give them grace and soul, as this always entertaining box amply proves.

"[47] Authors Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann commented that her later RCA singles "stand the test of time as among the most powerful country female vocal performances of the 1970s.

Backed by a large rhythm section, the recording reached number two on the Billboard and RPM country charts, becoming her most commercially successful single of the 1970s.

[19][51] Her eighteenth studio LP of the same name reached number 14 on the Billboard country albums chart and featured liner notes written by Loretta Lynn.

The album included "Ain't Love a Good Thing", which was released as a single and became her eighteenth top 10 song on the Billboard country chart.

Jurek went on to write "It could be said, that regardless of the material, she never made a bad record; the tunes were carefully chosen it's true, but she never tried to hide the hardcore twang in her vocal style.

NPR's Ken Tucker found her recordings in this era to feature more pop instrumentation but did not "obscure the passion and pain she communicated so fearlessly".

[68] In 1976, Columbia issued two more country albums of Smith's material: The Song We Fell in Love To and I Don't Wanna Talk It Over Anymore.

[23] The albums included the number 13 country single "I Don't Wanna Talk It Over Anymore" and her twentieth top 10, a remake of The Everly Brothers's "(Till) I Kissed You".

"[69] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine found her Monument music to have "state-of-the-art production that dates instantly, walks the line between crossover pop and country-pop rather clumsly, and lacks good material.

After the conversation ended, Smith realized that she didn't need her own children worrying about her at the start of their adult lives and decided that it was time to return to her career.

Kurt Wolff, in the book Country Music: The Rough Guide, commented that the album sounded "far gutsier than anything in the Reba and Garth mainstream".

[1] Thom Jurek of Allmusic gave the release four out of five stars, calling it "a solid effort" and commenting "it stands head and shoulders over most of the stuff that's come out of Nash Vegas in over a decade.

"[75] Also in 1998, Smith made a second cameo appearance in a film, portraying a "Singer at the Rodeo Dance" in The Hi-Lo Country starring Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup.

In August 2003, she released a gospel album with country artists Barbara Fairchild and Sharon White titled Love Never Fails on Daywind Records.

The thirty-minute program featured traditional country music performed by both Stuart and Smith, as well as radio personality Eddie Stubbs.

[84] PopMatters gave the album an 8/10 rating and concluded "If you wanted to understand what traditional country is, you could go to the same place today as you could have 50 years ago: a Connie Smith record.

Writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted in 2012 that Smith sings with a "cool, authoritative ease, a skill that brought her to the attention of some of Nashville's finest songwriters.

"[92] Thom Jurek of AllMusic stated that Smith's vocals offer "sophisticated emotional delivery" and that "her control and phrasing remain a high-water mark today.

Bufwack and Oermann further stated that along with Tammy Wynette, Smith was among the genre's "most towering country voices of the 1960s and 1970s" who "sang from the depths of despair" and "spoke for conservative Middle America in both music and life.

[14] In a discussion with country songwriter Fred Foster, Dolly Parton famously said, "You know, there's really only three female singers in the world: Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, and Connie Smith.

[102] In April 2021, Smith's husband, Marty Stuart, announced a documentary to be released about her life and career titled Connie: The Cry of the Heart.

"Studying the depth of what Marty and Connie have achieved in the industry and then discovering their ability to predict the business trends around their legacy makes me very excited to be part of what they are doing," said Nick Kontonicolas, who will help broadcast the documentary on his network.