''Country Things'' is the tenth studio album by American country musician Granger Smith, released on September 25, 2020. Work on the album began in early 2019, but the death of Smith's 3-year-old son put the album on hold. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Smith was able to focus on writing songs again and completing the album. The first single from the album, "That's Why I Love Dirt Roads", was released in October 2019. The album was initially released as two individual discs, ''Country Things, Vol. 1'' and ''Country Things, Vol. 2''.

Background

Granger Smith had begun writing songs for the album in the beginning of 2019. He was half-way done when tragedy struck. His 3-year-old son, River, died on June 6, 2019, after accidentally falling into the pool at their home, and everything was put on hold. It took nearly ten months before Smith started writing songs again, and when the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the new album, he continued to write more songs. Instead of overloading the songs onto one album, the decision was made to split them up, eight songs on each album. ''Country Things Vol. 1'' was released on September 25, 2020, with volume 2 released in November.

Inspiration

''Country Things Vol. 1'' is a personal album for Smith, who after dealing with the tragedy of his son's death, said "it became about appreciating the gratefulness in the day without being overweighed by the worries of tomorrow." He wanted to focus on "the things you want to raise your kids with and find joy in. The country things." Songs on the album reflect not only his family values and deep introspection, but also Smith's penchant for fun. The track, "Country and Ya Know It", features an appearance by his alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr.

Singles

"That's Why I Love Dirt Roads" was released as a single on October 25, 2019, peaking at No. 50 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart in July 2020. The second single, "Hate You Like I Love You", was released February 8, 2021.

Track listing

;Volume 1 ;Volume 2

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic *Geoff Ashcroft – electric guitar *Eric Belz – keyboards, programming *Tyler Chiarelli – electric guitar *Dave Cohen – keyboards *Corey Crowder – programming, background vocals *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– drums, percussion *Earl Dibbles Jr. – featured vocals on "Country and Ya Know It" *Kris Donegan – acoustic guitar *Kyle Fishman – keyboards, programming *Shannon Forrest – drums *Wes Hightower – background vocals *Mark Hill – bass guitar *Chad Jeffers –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

*Mike Johnson –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

*Todd Lombardo – banjo, acoustic guitar,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

*Rachel Loy – bass guitar *Devin Malone – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin *John Marlin – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, programming,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Miles McPherson – drums, percussion *Katlin Owen – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *Hunter Phelps – background vocals *Jerry Roe – drums, percussion *Jason Kyle Saetveit – background vocals * Jordan Schmidt – percussion, background vocals * Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar *Ernestine Smith – background vocals * Granger Smith – lead vocals, background vocals *London Smith – additional vocals * Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar, ukulele *Lars Thorson –

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Derek Wells – banjo, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, Hammond B-3 organ, mandolin, programming,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

*Bryan David Willis – background vocals *

Trent Willmon Trent Willmon (born March 6, 1973) is an American country music artist, songwriter, and producer. Active since 1998 as a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Willmon was signed to Columbia Records in 2004. He released two albums for the label (2 ...

– electric guitar *Brad Winters – programming *Alex Wright – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, piano, programming, synthesizer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Granger Smith albums BBR Music Group albums