''Country Things'' is the tenth studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

ian

Granger Smith Granger Kelly Smith (born September 4, 1979), also known by his stage name, Earl Dibbles Jr., is an American Southern Baptist minister, radio show host and former country music singer and songwriter. He has released eleven studio albums, two liv ...

, 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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 advertis ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

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 AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

*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 A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*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 in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

*Mike Johnson –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

*Todd Lombardo – banjo, acoustic guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

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

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

*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 Jordan Schmidt is an American mixing engineer, record producer, and songwriter. His portfolio covers musical styles including pop, country, rock, and alternative. Schmidt was born in Duluth, Minnesota to local musicians. He started recordin ...

– percussion, background vocals *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

– bass guitar *Ernestine Smith – background vocals *

– lead vocals, background vocals *London Smith – additional vocals *

Bryan Sutton James Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's gr ...

– acoustic guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

*Lars Thorson –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

Derek Wells Derek M. Wells (born 28 November 1946) is a former Canadian politician who served as the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of South Shore from 1993 to 1997. Early life and education Born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Wells grad ...

– banjo, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar,

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

, 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 that ...

*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