Nate Smith Co-Hosts 1/6-7

The co-host this weekend is Nate Smith, who is in our Top 5 with “World On Fire.” It is Nate’s second single, the follow-up to his debut #1 “Whiskey On You.” Nate spent last year on the road with Thomas Rhett and Cole Swindell. He says he got some great career advice from Thomas. Nate will be opening some stadiums for Morgan Wallen in the new year.

Nate was first introduced to radio in May 2022 at the Key West Songwriter’s Festival. Nate remembers it this way: “I had no idea what was ahead.  That was such an important retreat for me. Meeting all those people, country radio has really embraced me, it’s literally changed my life.”  

That was when Nate debuted his first single “Whiskey On You:” He tells Lon, “I was so nervous performing it, hoping that they’d like me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.  After that, the song started climbing the charts, and I started hearing people singing it back to me, it was just amazing.  Then when it went #1, it got me on the Thomas Rhett tour.”

Speaking of Thomas, when he was Lon’s co-host, he described Nate’s show.  Lon played that for Nate, who responded: “Wow, I didn’t expect to hear him say such nice things.  I’m teary-eyed.  That tour, he taught me so much, I’m lucky to know him and call him a friend.”

Nate also said he got great advice from Thomas: “He told me, ‘You need to take more time to tell your story. They need to know who you are. They need to know you, not just your song.’ So every show since, I take a minute to tell me story. My thing is that I want to bring hope to people.  That was the best advice.  So I tell them about losing everything in the wildfires, moving to Nashville, and being down to $14, I share it all.”

Lon asked about his experiences during the California wildfires. “I was living near Chico when the fire happened, I lost everything. I got out of there just before the fire hit. I had a doctor’s appointment that morning.  If I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t be here today.  I lost instruments, family keepsakes, everything.  Then I left for Nashville.”

Nate also has great stories this week about Morgan Wallen, Cole Swindell, Scotty McCreery, Jelly Roll, Dylan Scott, and Lainey Wilson.

NEXT WEEK: Dan + Shay

Tags: featured

Category: CO-HOST