Dallas Smith
January 17, 2015
ABOUT THE SHOW
When the party lights are switched on, it’s a good bet that the music of Dallas Smith will be thumping right along with them. As country music’s newest star, the elastic-voiced singer brings a fresh slant to country, a wall-of-sound approach that combines the vocals of country with the crunch of rock.
Raised in a small town in British Columbia, Dallas was first introduced to country music by his mother, who filled the family’s house with the artists of the 1990s. Dallas soaked it all up. “There was Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn, and a lot of female country too,” he says. “That all had an impact on me.”
Dallas took that foundation, along with the classic rock his father exposed him to, and refined it into his own unique style. A fan of such guitar-driven country acts as Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts, Dallas has always gravitated toward the more melodic singing and picking of country.
“Country radio today sounds like the perfect storm of what I grew up with,” he says. “This really is the best of both worlds for me.”
Helping Dallas bridge those worlds is producer Joey Moi, who has overseen blockbuster albums by Florida Georgia Line and Jake Owen. “We’ve always talked about how cool it would be to make a record that involves all the musical styles we grew up liking,” says Dallas of his partnership with Joey. Their first stab at such an album was Dallas’s Canadian country debut, Jumped Right In, a project that netted Dallas five Canadian Country Music Association award nominations and a Juno nomination for the 2013 Country Album of the Year.
Now fully entrenched in the Nashville community, Dallas is making his American country debut with the high-octane single “Tippin’ Point.” It is as infectious as it is upbeat, a party anthem that roots itself in one’s brain. It’s also the perfect prelude for what is to come from Dallas and his energetic persona.
“’Tippin’ Point is that blend of what I love about country and rock,” says Dallas, who as the former lead singer for the wildly successful international rock band Default knows his way around a power chord and an arena-sized audience. “The song sums me up as an artist and is a great representation of where I’m going.”
And currently, that’s all over the U.S., as the opening act for Florida Georgia Line on their Here’s to the Good Times headlining tour.
“I couldn’t ask for a better platform to be introduced on,” says Dallas, who, with Default, has played everywhere from the Orange Bowl to Afghanistan.
But despite that past success, he doesn’t take his country ambitions lightly.
“I come from humble backgrounds and I’ve always tried to keep a level head in the music business. I just put my nose down and work hard,” says Dallas, “and that’s what country music is all about.”