Time with Louise M. Smith. Louise started her musical career singing in the crib. Her mother remembered her humming before she could walk. By the time she was four years old, she was making melodies and imitating piano players by banging on flat surfaces. By age five, she had begun picking out songs she'd heard at church and "BIG TENT MEETINGS" held in her neighborhood and was playing them on the 22 key organ her parents bought for her.