A Texas native, raised in Dallas, country singer and songwriter Granger Smith began his professional recording career while he was attending Texas A&M, completing his first album, 1998's Waiting on Forever, during his freshman year. He self-released five more studio albums during the subsequent 15 years before earning wide distribution with 2013's Dirt Road Driveway (written, recorded, and produced by Smith himself in his home studio). His breakthrough came in 2015 when he released three consecutive Top 20 country hits: "Backroad Song," "If the Boot Fits," and "Happens Like That."nnSmith began his professional recording career at the age of 19 (he had been playing gigs on the Texas circuit since he was 14). He recorded his debut album, Waiting on Forever, during his freshman year at Texas A&M, and signed a writing and publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing a couple of years later. He left college during his junior year to relocate to Nashville, where he learned the writing and recording ropes in Music City while continuing to gig in the local bars and clubs. Smith self-released a second album, Memory RD., in 2005, along with Pockets of Pesos that same year, and even managed to graduate from Texas A&M as well. Livin' Like a Lonestar followed a year later in 2006, with We Bleed Maroon arriving in 2007.nn By this time, Smith was back in his home state of Texas, where he gigged and toured constantly, and he became a major star on the Texas circuit. Don't Listen to the Radio was released in 2009, with a pair of albums, Live at the Chicken: 11-20-11 and Poets & Prisoners, arriving three years later in 2012. Dirt Road Driveway appeared in 2013, and included a pair of tracks, "Country Boy Love" and "The Country Boy Song," attributed to Smith's comedic alter ego Earl Dibbles, Jr. The year 2015 saw the release of 4x4, a four-song EP, which peaked at number six on the Country Albums chart and rose to 51 on the Top 200 Albums listing, while "Backroad Song" became a Top Ten country single, peaking at number one on Billboard's Country Airplay charts. In January 2016, Smith was named Hottest Artist to Watch in 2016 by the online magazine Taste of Country, and his major-label debut, Remington, saw release in March 2016. The following year Smith released his ninth full-length outing, When the Good Guys Win, which featured the single "Happens Like That." In 2018, Smith made the film They Were There, A Hero's Documentary and released a soundtrack to accompany it. ~ Steve Leggett