‘Catch of the Day’ – Dan + Shay – “When I Pray For You” [VIDEO]

Today we turn our attention to a duo that came together in Nashville as songwriters. Their future was obvious when the very first song they wrote together was grabbed up  by one of country music's biggest groups.

Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney are definite proof that, at least in Nashville, opposites attract. Smyers was born and raised in Wexford, PA, and attended Carnegie Mellon University to play football and study finance. While in college Smyers began playing guitar and songwriting, and realized that his future path led down another road. Mooney on the other hand, knew early in life that his true focus was music. Growing up in Natural Dam, AR, Mooney spent just one year at Valley Forge Christian College before leaving academia behind, packing his bags and heading to Nashville.

Smyers and Mooney met at a party in Nashville in December of 2012, immediately hitting it off. Their song writing partnership started the very next day, and the fruits of that day's labors, the very first song they wrote together was soon put on hold by Rascal Flatts. Within two months the duo had secure a publishing contract with Warner/Chappell Music. Mooney had been performing as a solo artist, becoming an "internet sensation", posting songs on youtube with his girlfriend at the time, Veronica Ballestrini. Meanwhile Smyers had been a member of the groups Bonaventure and Transition and had recorded on the Nappy Boy Entertainment label.

Warner Brothers Nashville signed  Dan+Shay to a recording contract in 2013, releasing their debut single "19 You + Me" in October. The song would hit the top-10, a perfect lead in for their debut album, Where It All Began, which released on April 1, 2014. The album featured two more singles, "Show You Off", which peaked at #21, and Dan+Shay's first #1 hit, "Nothin' Like You", a song Mooney wrote for Ballestrini. Mooney has also written two recent successes for other artists. Co-writing with pop star Meghan Traynor, the pair produced the #1 hit "I Like The Sound of That" for Rascal Flatts, as well as Lauren Alaina's current chart climbing single "The Road Less Traveled".

In June of 2016, the duo released their follow up to Where It All Began, Obsessed. The lead single from the album, "From The Ground Up" became their second #1 hit, also becoming their second platinum certified single. The second single from the album, "How Not To" was released in September of 2016, and is still climbing the charts. The duo is going to try something that hasn't happened in awhile in country music, releasing two singles from separate sources at the same time. The latest single from the duo, from the soundtrack of the movie The Shack, is in our spotlight today. Dan + Shay and "When I Pray For You" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.