Dallas Smith, The Fall 2020 Feature

At the end of August, Dallas Smith dropped his fourth full-length country album, Timeless, and continued a run of unprecedented success in the genre for Canadian artists.

Since his move from rock to country, Smith has been at or near the top all the time. Each of his 23 singles has landed at #7 or higher on the charts, with an amazing 10 climbing all the way to #1 – including a historic nine in a row. It’s a run unlike anything we’ve ever seen, even from artists like Shania, Terri Clark, or Paul Brandt.

Related: Dallas Smith Celebrates 10th #1 Hit with Like A Man

I had the chance to catch up with Dallas Smith on a Zoom call to talk about the album, picking songs, the CCMAs, working with young Canadian country talent, and more. But before we get to all that check out the title track from Timeless.

Dallas Smith – Timeless

On a Thursday morning, immediately after dropping his daughter off at school (artists have parent duty just like the rest of us), we got on a call that started with congratulations on his soon to arrive 3rd child, the release of his album, and efforts to get each other on a strong wifi signal (welcome to 2020).

The real start though was when we started talking about the album. I asked about the release and reception, and Dallas admitted that it’s a little weird, and not just because of the pandemic. He explained that it used to be that he would release an album and then look at sales over the first days and week to see how things were going – but it’s not like that anymore. He can see the streaming numbers though, and the messages and posts from fans who are listening, and that has given him a lot of positive feedback to go through.

Outside of album sales, and even praise from fans, this album is already a success. Five of Smith’s 10 career #1 singles can be found on Timeless. Yes, four of them were first released on the The Fall EP in March 2019 (Make ‘Em Like You, Rhinestone World, Drop, Timeless), but they belong to the album along with Like A Man and the rest of the tracklist. And with 12 songs total on the album, there’s still a chance that we see a couple more get released to radio with a chance to continue his streak of success.

Just over three years ago, in Toronto at the Budweiser Stage, we caught up with Dallas before he appeared as a surprise guest with Dean Brody. At the time, he had just gone to #1 for the fourth time with Sky Stays This Blue, and I asked him about the feeling of hitting the top and who gets the phone calls to celebrate when he gets that news. Since he’s added six more smash hits since then, I asked him again about that feeling, and if it’s still special. And I was happy to hear that it is.

In a humble sort of way, he was sure to add that it takes a lot of luck and good fortune for a #1 to happen. The stars have to align he told me, with a great song, radio be willing to add it and then get it in heavier rotations and fan support pushing it up and up. He also took a moment to point out that he’s not alone on the Canadian country scene when it comes to reaching the top (though he is the most proficient, he didn’t say that, but I’m pointing it out again). He said that when he first came onto the country scene in 2011 with Somebody Somewhere, you didn’t see Canadians at the top of the charts with any kind of regularity. He said that you might see Dean Brody or Gord Bamford get there, but it wasn’t a regular occurrence.

Now though, including Smith, we’ve seen 17 Canadians at the top (by my count, including Justin Bieber with Dan + Shay) since just the start of 2019. And Tenille Townes, MacKenzie Porter, and The Reklaws have all been there twice (with Dallas getting there four times in that period). It’s a win for Canadian country music. And Dallas sees it as a good thing for everyone involved in a “rising tides lifts all boats” kind of way. He added that he hopes that what we’re seeing is the start of a golden age for the genre north of the border.

We put the focus back on him as we moved on with the call, and I asked him about the song selection process because it’s clear that he’s doing something right. He told me that in the end, he’s always had the final decision about whether a song gets recorded/ put on an album. He needs to feel like he connects to a song and it fits for him to want to do it. And that makes sense. He went further though, and we talked about the songs that aren’t tagged to be singles, the ones that fill out an album and are there for fans who are sitting down to listen from top to bottom. He made it clear that those songs matter to him. He wants to find songs that give balance to his albums, that make sure he’s not just giving one vibe or sound from track one to the end of the record. And he wants to give fans a chance to connect with a song that isn’t the hit or the popular one, a song that they can feel like is theirs or more important to them than the ones that go to #1.

Note: Dallas also told me that he’s always, always looking for songs for future projects because he never wants to find himself in a place where it’s time to make an album and he’s got nothing. He remembers an experience like that with Default. And while he looks back at the results and still thinks they got some good stuff out, he doesn’t want to do it like that again.

From there we got off onto a side conversation about albums and how great it still is to sit down with an hour of music from an artist that all goes together in one time and enjoy. And ya, playlists are great and EPs are important for the current realities of the business, and I remember making mixed tapes with a boom box and the radio, hoping the DJ didn’t talk over the intro or outro of a song, but there’s nothing better than a great, full album. Dallas Smith has got one of those with Timeless.

While I had Dallas on the call, I wanted to ask about something that has come up in a lot of conversations with other people, and that’s his work with emerging artists. He has worked or is currently working with a list of artists that includes Andrew Hyatt, Shawn Austin, Kelly Prescott, Kristin Carter, and Petric, and those are just the ones I’ve talked to or have experience covering and talking about it. Every time Dallas has come up in conversations about the business there are smiles and glowing accounts of his efforts to make things better or teach or guide artists through their journey. And when I asked him about that work, his answers made it all make sense.

He told me that back in his Default days there were experiences that sucked, and if he can help artists avoid stuff like having an album held indefinitely because of a label bankruptcy or a manager stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, or any number of other shitty things, he wants to do it. Dallas Smith wants to see the next generation of country artists in Canada succeed. And while that doesn’t sound like an overly impressive thing to say, think about the effort he’s making to help an artist like Hyatt or Austin get on the charts and challenge for the radio play he’s getting.

I asked if there’s an element of pride that kicks in when he sees the artists he’s working with succeed, and he said yes. And with Kelly Prescott picking up a CCMA award nomination for Roots Album of the Year (Love Wins) and Hyatt and Austin growing their careers, and Kristin Carter getting ready for hers to take off, he’s got a lot to be proud about.

And speaking of the CCMAs… the 2020 Canadian Country Music Association Awards are coming up on September 27th. Yes, it’s all very weird, and Dallas admits that but they are still coming and he is still up for four awards (Entertainer of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Fans’ Choice, Single of the Year). He told me that it’s a bummer that the opportunity to feel the rush of hearing your name called (“if you’re lucky enough to win”) in a room full of your peers and fans and having the chance to stand up and thank everyone isn’t there this year. But we found the small upside in that he’ll be able to watch at home, early in the evening on west coast time, with his family – and he joked that if he doesn’t win, his family can watch him have a fit… and we laughed.

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The other thing that Dallas and a lot of other artists and industry folks (and us) are missing from the CCMAs this year is just coming together and seeing everyone. In years past, if you asked an artist what they love about the CCMA weekend or Canadian Country Music Week, seeing their friends and peers is always high on the list. We’re sad that it isn’t happening in 2020, but holy cow, look out in 2021 if we get back on track because it’s going to be wild in the best ways.

Note: What’s also wild is that Dallas Smith is the reigning CCMA Male Artist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year and we didn’t even get to the awards show until after the 30-minute mark of our call – that’s how much is going on in his world and the music world and I’m grateful for his time as we went over all of it.

Related: 2020 Canadian Country Music Association Awards Nominees & Fan Poll

Good luck to Dallas and all of the 2020 CCMA nominees.

Since I had Dallas Smith on the Zoom, made sense that we took the chance to play our first round of 5 Quick Questions with him since 2017 at the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa, Ontario. 2020 kicked in (of course) and there were technical difficulties with the video. But that’s why I take notes. So, here’s a written version of Dallas Smith’s new round of 5 Quick Questions

5 Quick Questions with Dallas Smith (Fall 2020)

Q1: If you’re at home listening to music, which album would you reach for if you were going to play it from front to back with no skips?

A: It took Dallas a minute to come up with an answer on this one because he started to think about the when and where he’d be listening. Finally, he went non-country and picked The Beatles’ Abbey Road, and there’s really no arguing with that answer.

Q2: Do you have a dream stage that you’d like to play someday?

A: Madison Square Garden was the answer, and it didn’t take him long to come up with it. He added that he’d be happy to open to a sold-out crowd at MSG, and ya, it would be awesome I’m sure.

Q3: Who is at the top of your dream collaboration that you haven’t worked with yet?

A: Dallas said that there are a lot of great artists out there that he would love to work with, but he’s not going to go chasing them down. He says he’s happy to have worked with Terri Clark, Dean Brody, MacKenzie Porter, and most recently HARDY – and we’ll just have to see who he teams up with next.

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Q4: If you could plan a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?

A: Maui. That’s the answer and it was almost instant. I followed up and asked if he’d been and he said yes, and he’d go again for sure. The people, the islands, the pineapple, he mentioned all of it with a smile on his face.

Q5: Is there a band or artist you think people should be paying more attention to?

A: Robyn Ottolini. The Ontario singer-songwriter is on Dallas Smith’s radar, our radar, and she should be on your radar too. Dallas pointed to her songwriting and its uniqueness and her talent. He says he’s not sure he’s heard anyone else in Canada coming up with the kind of stuff she is, and like we talked about before with his decision making when it comes to songs, this guy knows what he’s talking about.

Keep an eye out for Robyn Ottolini, and don’t miss our recent round of 5 Quick Questions with her – CLICK HERE!

Before we wrapped up and said goodbye, I asked Dallas if there was anything else he wanted me to include or share, he took that time to talk about the fans. Not being able to be on the road right now is a monetary hit for the music industry and artists and their teams and everyone involved, but it’s more than that too. Dallas talked about missing the connection and feeling of a good show and the hard part of not knowing when that’s coming back. “The music business will beat the shit out of you”, he told me. And not being able to get up and do the fun part, playing live and singing your songs and hearing the crowd and seeing the faces, that’s a big thing to take away in a hard time.

Mostly, it felt like he really wanted listeners and fans to know that they matter.

If you haven’t checked out Timeless yet, hit the stream here and enjoy. And when the concert world does get back on track, be ready because I have a feeling that Dallas Smith is gonna blow the roof off of some places.

Dallas Smith – Photos Through The Years (Bud Stage, Country Thunder, CCMA Awards, Boots & Hearts, Tribute Communities Centre, Canadian National Exhibition)

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