Smith's 'Backroad Song' giving Texas favorite a national stage

The last stage of Texas country star Granger Smith's songwriting process is usually a road test.

Not the kind where he tries them out at various gigs while touring. Instead, Smith, in the middle of putting the final touches on a new album, generally brings the tracks along with him in his pickup.

"I'll drive around and roll the windows down and try to simulate the setting that the song would sound good in," Smith said.

He upended that practice, though, for his newest music - and his latest single has turned out to be his biggest hit ever.

Smith - who'll return to Amarillo for a 9 p.m. Friday show with opening act Drew Baldridge at Midnight Rodeo, 4400 S. Georgia St. - initially released "Backroad Song" in March. But a later, national re-release by his new label, Wheelhouse Records, is still climbing Billboard's country charts, currently sitting at No. 14.

"As simple as it is lyrically, it brings kind of a new thing to the table for me," Smith said. "It's not going too shallow, not going too deep. It's going to enhance whatever mood you're in now."

"Out here cruising to a backroad song," Smith sings. "I feel the wheels like a melody, like a radio dialing in strong / C'mon, c'mon sing along, sing along to my backroad song."

Hitting the road served Smith's last album, "Dirt Road Driveway," well, the singer said, "but I wanted to start the whole process there" for the follow-up, he said.

"I wanted to see what would happen if the entire song was based on the back road, on the rhythm of the tires and the flow of the curves of the road," Smith said. "In doing that, at no point in this process did I think this would be my first big national hit. I just though this was a great way to start a new process."

It also gave Smith a bigger stage.

"We had this plan, (producer) Frank Rogers and I: Let's do an EP. ... Release one single, see how it does, then release the EP and see how that does, and see where we are fanbase-wise to try to get a bigger company involved with the distribution of the full album," Smith said.

The process worked: Smith signed to Wheelhouse, a Broken Bow Records Music Group subsidiary. Other acts under the BBR umbrella include Jason Aldean, Parmalee, Chase Bryant and more.

Smith spent the rest of 2015 finalizing the new full-length album, a 15-track record due out March 4 featuring a duet with labelmate Brooke Eden and two tracks featuring Smith's hick alter-ego, Earl Dibbles Jr.

"It feels like we've turned the corner and are on the main stretch for sure," Smith said. "It feels like we're definitely playing in the major leagues now, which is exciting and very gratifying."

how to go

o What: Granger Smith with Drew Baldridge

o When: 9 p.m. Friday

o Where: Midnight Rodeo, 4400 S. Georgia St.

o How much: $10 advance, $12 day of show ages 21 and older or $15 day of show ages 18 to 20

o Information: 806-358-7083 or www.midnightrodeoamarillo.com