Dallas Smith on his switch from rock stardom to country music dominance
The Canadian musician tells Q’s Tom Power about his winding path to country music fame
Dallas Smith has led a lot of lives. He went from being a shy and socially anxious kid in Langley, B.C., to a rockstar in the band Default, to one of the biggest Canadian country music stars of all time. Just last week, he cemented his place in country music history when he made his debut at Nashville's legendary Grand Ole Opry.
But when he was younger, Smith would never sing out loud except for when he was in the shower or alone in the car. That all changed one night after he downed a few beers with some musician friends in a garage. With a bit of liquid courage, he was able to take the mic.
"Playing shows and writing music, it just seemed [like that was] not something that was within reach," the singer-songwriter tells Q's Tom Power on today's episode. "It was just a doubt that that would ever be an opportunity."
That garage session led Smith to writing and recording a demo for his newly formed rock band, Default. The band's lead guitarist, Jeremy Hora, slipped the demo to record producer Joey Moi, whom he knew from recording school.
Moi, who's known for his work with Nickelback, played the demo for lead singer Chad Kroeger. They both liked the songs and offered to work with Default on their first album, The Fallout.
When Default released the record in 2001, Smith had only performed once. His first few shows with the band weren't easy for him.
"If anybody could hide behind a single mic stand, I did it," he says. "I disappeared behind that thing."
It didn't help that the band's second show was in front of 1,100 people at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver — the day after Pearl Jam had played the same venue.
But the success kept coming. Default's first song, Wasting My Time, hit No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band then went on tour with Nickelback, which reached the top of the charts with their song How You Remind Me.
"It was an amazing experience," Smith says. "It was the personal challenge of this happening so fast, overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there because I was out there — big time."
By the mid-2000s, Default hadn't had a hit as big as Wasting My Time. They also discovered that their business manager was stealing from them and that they owed the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) $350,000 in GST payments.
"I think I hated every single song that we had at that point," Smith says. "There was no fun, passion behind it at that point. It was just a constant reminder of the hill that needed to be climbed."
Smith was listening to Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts and other country music artists at the time. For two years, he and Moi would joke that they should make a country record together. After a particularly rough time opening for Three Days Grace on their Canadian tour, Smith sent a text to Moi from the back of the tour bus: "Country record?"
"It just didn't feel right anymore," he says. "This business, it just kicks your ass all over the place. And if you're not passionate about what you're doing, you need to make a change and need to do something different."
Within two-and-a-half weeks, Smith was down in Nashville with Moi and country music writers. His first country album, Jumped Right In, came out in 2012, but he wasn't sure what kind of reception he would receive. His first single, Somebody Somewhere, got a decent amount of airplay on the country stations.
"It was so much weight off my shoulders," he says. "It was like, 'OK, I have a shot. This song is going to be heard, this record is going to be heard.'"
Despite his Nashville success, Smith remains in Langley to remain close to his wife and kids.
"There's more important things than music," he says. "Wherever this music thing takes me, it's all icing on the cake."
The full interview with Dallas Smith is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Dallas Smith produced by Mitch Pollock.
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