‘Catch of the Day” – Granger Smith – “If The Boot Fits” [AUDIO]

Today the focus is on an artist who was a success on the Texas Country music charts, but it took the 16th single of his career to gain main stream success.

Granger Smith started playing local clubs and venues around the Dallas,TX area while he was still a teenager. After graduating high school, Smith attended Texas A&M. At 19 he felt confident in songs he had written, and by pre-selling around the A & M campus, Smith scraped together enough money to self-produce his debut album Waiting On Forever.

Smith did not release a single from the 1998 album. Smith would continue to self-produce his albums, 6 studio albums, 1 live album and 1 EP, even after moving to Nashville in 2008. After moving to Music City, he would begin releasing singles, beginning with 2008's "Colorblind" from his album Livin' Like A Lonestar.

But Smith couldn't break into the mainstream, with 15 consecutive non-charting singles. His first album to show a heart-beat, 2013's Dirt Road Driveway peaked at #15 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. Coincidentally, it was also the first album he released on a label, releasing the album through Pioneer Music. But the time spent in Nashville was not wasted, as the Texan worked regularly as a session steel guitar player and back-up singer. He used this time to learn the ins and out of songwriting by working with some of the best in Nashville, and also learning his way around the recording studio and stage working behind some of the top names in Country music.

His road to Nashville hit not only backroads, but often some road that were definitely less traveled. After 15 singles that didn't chart, in 2015, Smith signed with Broken Bow records and was well on his way to his first #1 hit with "Backroad Song". But it was just a few years earlier he was standing with his boots in Iraqi soil, watching the sunset, when a band member asked him "can you believe music got us here?" Smith has played in 10 countries and on 3 continents and has even played at the White House a couple of times.

Smith is definite proof that hard work, sacrifice and determination do pay off in Nashville. He also proved that 16 is a lucky number as "Backroad Song" went to #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart this month. His eighth studio album, Remington, is schedule to be released in March, and the second single from that album is in our spotlight today. Granger Smith and "If The Boot Fits" is today's Catch of the Day, new music you haven't heard, but you'll want to hear it again.