Conner Smith’s debut, full-length album is here and with it, he’s paying tribute to his Tennessee roots. From the title, Smoky Mountains, to the lyrics that show the many different parts of who he is - the album is a representation of the Nashville native who grew up always dreaming of making it on Country radio.
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“I’m fired up,” Smith told Audacy’s Sabrina from Queens during an album release party earlier this month at Hard Rock Hotel New York. “I keep saying it’s taken 23 years to make these 12 songs and it really does feel like it’s a labor of love.” He continued, “I wanted every song to matter, I wanted every song to have a role and I wanted every song to show a different side of who I am and to mean something.”
Smith gave fans a small taste of the greatness to come with his GOLD-certified “Take It Slow,” viral hit “I Hate Alabama” and current, chart-climbing single “Creek Will Rise,” all included on the 12-track project. While each previously-released song sets a high bar, Smith has confidence there’s some new fan-favorites to come. One of those being a duet with fellow Country artist, Hailey Whitters titled, “Roulette on the Heart.”
“It quickly became a song that felt different,” he said of the tune that details the complexities of love. “It felt like a new level and it had a maturity to it I don’t think I had written yet,” he said. “We loved the song and kinda thought having a female vocal on it would really add a tension to it.” Smith says Whitters “kindly saying ‘yes’” to singing on the track brought it to a new level which has inspired Conner and his team to release it as his next single.
“This will kind of be the focus track when the album comes out,” he revealed before expressing further plans to take it to radio. “This will hopefully be the next single at Country radio after ‘Creek Will Rise,’ hopefully hits #1.”
While Connor is particularly excited for “Roulette on the Heart,” he shared the women in his life — his Mom, Jennifer Vickery Smith and fianceé, Leah Thompson — have picked a different favorite titled, “Regret In The Morning.” Smith shared both women are never afraid to share their opinions on his music, which sometimes he has to “drown out,” but for this song, their opinions made him fight for it.
“I really fought for this song,” he shared. “You want to talk about opinions? My fianceé and my Mom, this was their favorite song I’ve ever written — as you can imagine when you hear it,” he said. “This was a song I loved and it felt like a side of who I am that I wanted to show in a cool way.”
As a recently-engaged man, there’s plenty of love songs to go around on the album, including new tracks, “Baby I,” “Meanwhile In Carolina,” and “Boots In The Bleachers”, but it isn’t all about love. Smith shared he found it important to share a “life” song which comes with track 12, “God Moments.”
“I was just thinking about what this record was missing, we were kind of down to the wire on cutting [songs],” Conner said before adding “God Moments" to the track list after an employee at his label recommended he add a “life song” to the mix. “She was like, ‘this record needs a life song, a song that isn’t about a girl, isn’t about heartbreak or love, but it’s just a song about life,’ and I agreed.”
That’s exactly what “God Moments” brings as it closes the project and brings everything back to faith - a strong pillar in Smith’s life. “In life, there’s certain moments that you don’t want to do something, but you never regret it. For example, you never want to wake up to see the sunrise, but anytime you ever do it, you never regret it.”
Watch our full interview from Conner Smith above.
'Smoky Mountains' Track list
1. Smoky Mountains
2. Creek Will Rise
3. Roulette On The Heart (Ft. Hailey Whitters)
4. Heatin’ Up
5. Baby, I
6. Meanwhile In Carolina
7. Boots In The Bleachers
8. Take It Slow
9. Trouble
10. I Hate Alabama
11. Regret In The Morning
12. God Moments