Country singer Granger Smith and his alter ego Earl Dibbles Jr. will release "Remington" on March 4.... [+]
Seventeen years after recording his debut album -- and eight more independently released albums later -- Granger Smith has notched his first career top 10 single this week on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and Country Airplay chart with “Backroad Song.”
The catchy ode to small town-living is the lead single from his first major label release, Remington, which he exclusively told Forbes will arrive on March 4 via BBR Music Group’s Wheelhouse Records.
Written within two years during which the married baritone from Dallas lost his dad to a heart attack but also became a dad of two kids himself, the emotional 15-track album features songs about his late father (“Tractor”), lost love (“Echo”), hard-earned cash (“Blue Collar Dollars”), parties (“Tonight”) and other country music motifs.
“My songs are my best method of expressing the chapters of my life,” Smith told Forbes. “This album has been a journey for me -- two years of writing and recording, releasing an EP in the middle and signing my first record deal at the completion.”
On the title track, Smith proclaims, “I’m a Remington” -- strong and dependable like the Remington 870 gun he owned when he was growing up in Texas.
Come release day it’s “Backroad Song” that will have likely attracted people to buy or stream the album. The track’s lyric video, below, has racked up 2.6 million YouTube views, and the song will only gain momentum when the official music video premieres on Jan. 16 on CMT’s Hot 20 Countdown.
Two songs on Remington ("City Boy Struck" and "Merica") showcase Smith’s popular alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr., a trucker hat-donning, overalls-wearing, dip-chewing country boy. The persona earned him a segment on
His snowballing success -- built on nearly two decades of promoting his self-recorded music on tour and on social media -- has been a long time coming for Smith, now in his 30s.
“When I was 14 years old I decided I would teach myself to play guitar,” he remembered. “This was motivated by two things: I thought the guitar would make girls pay attention to me, and the fact that George Strait played one."
Along with his ascent into the country charts, Smith has been reeling in critical praise, including being touted as Rolling Stone Country’s “New Country Artists You Need To Know,” Billboard’s “Artist To Watch,” Huffington Post’s “Top 20 Artists To Watch,” MusicRow’s “
On Remington, he's working with producer Frank Rogers, who has delivered songs with Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, Trace Adkins and Scotty McCreery.
“I beat up the road for years in trucks, vans and eventually buses,” Smith added. “Being an independent artist was tough, but the adversity made me better as an artist and as a person. We overcame a lot on that long road and I'm proud of this journey.”
