Granger Smith Proud to Be a Hard-Working Artist

Granger Smith might be one of the hardest-working artists in country music. The father of three released his latest album, When the Good Guys Win, last October. The record includes his first single from the project, “Happens Like That,” and his current hit, “You’re in It.” It also marks Smith’s second release on Wheelhouse Records, an imprint of Broken Bow, after spending more than 15 years as an independent artist.

“This is something that we’re still excited about,” Smith tells PopCulture.com of When the Good Guys Win. “It still feels like – I’m still saying new record, because it still feels like that. I feel like we’ve only started with the promotions we’ve done for this record. We have so many videos planned, not just for the single, ‘You’re In It,’ but for so many other songs. So this is the year of When the Good Guys Win. It’s a special album for me.”

Not that Smith is content to rest his creative energy. The 38-year-old admits he is already working on new music, even though When the Good Guys Win is less than a year old.

“I always go right into it,” Smith reveals. “And it’s not because we’re trying to push the other one aside. It’s just, no matter how much time goes by, you start building up this creative energy, and you just have to write songs. You’re not necessarily recording them, and thinking about putting them in an album; you’re just writing songs, releasing creative energy. And then you can’t help but think, ‘This might be a good song for the next album.’”

Smith has often said he wants everyone on his team, including his band, crew, and even himself, to learn something from every single show.

“If we stop growing, if we stop learning, then what’s the point? Why are we doing this?” Smith reflects. “Because there is really no end goal, there’s no destination with the music business. There’s always going to be the next single, the next album, the next tour. And so, the positive of all of that, and the thing we look forward to is growing, and how far have we come from where we were last year, and five years ago. And it’s fun to go back and look at pictures of us eight years ago, and see how far we’ve come, and how much we’ve learned. And so we have to remind ourselves how far we’ve come, every show.”

Smith’s employees definitely have plenty of opportunities to learn something new, since Smith spends almost the entire year on the road.

“We’ve always talked about wanting to slow down eventually, because we haven’t slowed down in a long time,” says Smith. “My brother said, ‘When is the last time you took a month off?’ And I couldn’t remember, but it’s probably been over a decade. Maybe more. Maybe 15 years since I’ve gone a month without playing at least one show. So it might be time to start thinking about that.”

The Texas native is known for his loyalty to his fans, famously driving a couple hours out of the way last year to visit a fan in Ohio, who was unable to attend one of his shows. His love for his fans, and willingness to do whatever it takes to make his fans feels special,has drawn comparisons to Garth Brooks – a comparison Smith doesn’t entirely refute, only because he continues to take notes from the country music icon.

“I can agree I strive every day to be as fan-friendly, as understanding, as open to the fans and friends as Garth is,” Smith concedes. “We got to do a show with Garth recently, and I was just blown away by how personable he is, to everyone, from the security to the opening acts, to the fans. He treats everyone the same.

“I always like to think that that’s me too,” adds Smith. “I’ve always liked to think that I could be in a room with anybody, and it doesn’t matter their status, I’m going to treat them the same. Ultimately I think that’s why everyone fell in love with Garth, because he wasn’t the kind of guy who was trying to talk to the most important person in the room.”

Purchase When the Good Guys win at GrangerSmith.com.

Photo Credit: Instagram/grangersmith