Canaan Smith

Canaan Smith spent years performing throughout Nashville before country singer and songwriter finally achieved his breakthrough with the platinum-certified number one single “Love You Like That,” taken from his 2014 debut album Bronco. Although continued success appeared imminent, the following period saw him stalled inside the major-label machinery as his career advanced unevenly. Toward the close of the decade he exited Mercury Records and joined Florida Georgia Line’s newly established Round Here imprint. The move to a smaller roster and a refreshed creative outlook allowed Smith to issue his second full-length project, High Country Sound, during 2021.

Originally from Williamsburg, Virginia, Smith sang along to a wide range of recordings while growing up, absorbing influences that stretched from George Strait to Rage Against the Machine; that breadth and energy have continued to shape his approach to songwriting. He moved to Nashville while still in college and began playing the local bar and club circuit, yet his earliest recognition arrived as co-writer of Love and Theft’s 2009 hit “Runaway.” Soon afterward he secured a publishing agreement through Disney Music and a recording deal with Mercury, which issued his first single, “We Got Us,” in early 2012. The follow-up release, “Love You Like That” in 2014, brought him widespread attention. Written alongside Brett and Jim Beavers, the track reached the top of Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and appeared on both Smith’s 2015 EP and the full-length debut Bronco that followed. Brett Beavers and Jimmy Robbins handled production duties, guiding Bronco to number four on the Country Albums chart and spawning the additional Top 40 single “Hole in a Bottle.”

Despite these accomplishments, Smith sensed he had become lost amid Mercury’s crowded roster and remained silent until the stand-alone 2017 releases “Like You That Way” and “This Night Back.” Ready for a different path, he departed Mercury and aligned with Tree Vibez Music, the publishing company founded by Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley of Florida Georgia Line. Smith also became the flagship artist for their new Round Here Records label, beginning with the 2019 single “Beer Drinkin’ Weather.” Several more tracks surfaced over the ensuing months before his sophomore album, High Country Sound, arrived in early 2021.