Today’s spotlight shines on an artist who recently released one of the most vulnerable and cohesive projects from a rising artist this year. We chatted with Payton Smith about his journey to country music, his musical influences, his new project The Bridge and everything in between. Keep reading to learn more about his journey.

“I grew up in a town called Houma, Louisiana, which is about an hour southeast of New Orleans. So pretty much what we call the bottom of the boot. And my first memory of listening to music was actually from a gospel group called the Gaither Vocal Band when I was like two years old, like, my mother said that I was constantly singing. That was the first lyrics that I ever learned,” shared Smith.

Smith recalls being enamored with music from an early age; despite, not knowing exactly had the whole music career thing worked. “There was never anything else that I wanted to do other than music, never thought about it. It was just it was always just even before I knew music could be a job, I was just like, I just want to play music, you know? So there was literally no backup plan,” he shared.

For Smith, artists like George Strait and Keith Urban quickly became a staple for him. “It literally feels like music has been a part of my life since literally as long as I can remember,” he shared, adding, ““Gospel and country were the predominant [genres]. It’s the predominant music that was played in my house. My dad loved old school rock and roll, so we would hear a lot of that. We’d hear some gospel, Christian music, and then I think growing up in Louisiana, you know, there’s so much rhythm, you know, which we didn’t necessarily, like, listen to a lot, but if we were out on the streets of New Orleans as a kid or if we were headed to somebody’s house, they always had some kind of Louisiana music playing. […]  So I feel like I was influenced by a lot of different things, but those are the genres I grew up hearing.”  

The Turning Point:

With a love for music clearly embedded into the fabric of who he is, Smith continued to hold the desire close to him. However, when he was just fourteen years old, he took a family trip to Nashville, Tennessee. This trip would go on to illuminate the path for him.

“I went to Nashville when I was 14 years old on a family vacation with my family. I ended up playing some songs in a lobby at a hotel we were staying at, and the concierge there ended up introducing us to, like, a producer in Nashville guy named Buddy Cannon, who produced all of Kenny Chesney’s records, and we met quite a few people over that weekend, and that kind of opened the doors for me to start coming to town and writing. Buddy was a huge influence, and he was really my mentor,” explained Smith. “So we would come to town every month, and my family would drive me up up to Nashville, and I would write for a week, go back home, and then eventually it started being like, a week on, a week off, and then eventually made the move here.”

For years, Smith cut his teeth in the Nashville writing scene, writing as much as he possible could. Eventually, as he said, he made the move to Music City to pursue his dream full-time. “I always wanted to be on stage and be the artist singing the songs. I think I fell in love with songwriting the more I started coming to Nashville. I love writing songs probably now just as much as being on stage because, you know it’s kind of where that’s kind of what you have to do first, to get on to stage, right? Like, you write the song, you record it, and like the last part of the process is getting on stage and playing it. So, I moved to town to be an artist, you know, but I love every part that goes into that,” he shared, adding, “We’re about 10 years in. And it feels like we’re just getting started.”

Today:

Flash forward to today, Smith is creating his best music to date. His ten-song album, The Bridge is a culmination of his life’s work, as well as, his story set to music.

“It’s very personal. I feel like it’s kind of reflective of like my last ten years in Nashville. When it comes to writing some more fun up-tempo songs, guitar heavy songs, we try to match the the energy to how we like to play live, which is very guitar heavy, very loud, a lot of energy. So kind of half of the record reflects that because that’s a huge part of who I am is being on stage,” shared the singer. “Then the other half of the record kind of shows me as a 25 year old figuring out life, like getting married young, having a baby at 25, life kind of moving faster and faster and realizing some of the values that I want to raise my little girl around, and things that I want to write about. So I felt like when we wrote “The Bridge, it was this perfect, perfect bridge, I guess, from this kind of energetic beginning of the album, and kind of into this growing up, more mature songwriting part of the album.”

The Bridge is for anyone who can relate to life moving too fast at times. The project captures Smith’s unique story, while also allowing fans to relate to the lyrics and groove to the more up-tempo tracks on the project too.

“The record ‘The Bridge’ as a whole just reflects me on stage and it reflects who I am as a dad, who I am as a husband, and who I am kind of being young and also growing up at the same time, a little bit further from where I’ve been, and a little bit closer to where I’m going, and always somewhere right in the middle.” While each and every song on the project is special, the cohesiveness as a whole may be the special sauce of the record.

It would be easy for Smith to rest of his laurels, but he is showing no signs of slowing down for the rest of this year or even into 2026. He’s headed out on the road with Priscilla Block this November and December and even releasing more music before the years up. As for 2026, we’ll let Smith tell you the plans.

“We’re gonna hit the ground run in 2026. We’ve got a lot of music that we’re already prepping and getting ready for. We might even have some special duets coming pretty soon, so there’ll be more stuff coming out on that. But 2e plan to hit 26 pretty hard with touring and releasing music just as we did this year.”

Connect:

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