For someone who was once the lead singer of a rock band, Dallas Smith has done pretty well for himself.
The British Columbian country singer is the only male country artist to be on the Country Airplay Chart for multiple weeks. His single, Wastin’ Gas set the record for most plays in a single week on Canadian radio.
On Thursday (Feb. 12) the Juno-nominated singer will take the stage at the Port Theatre in what will be one of the last stops on his Tippin’ Point Tour, which also happens to be his first headlining tour as a country artist.
“It is amazing to see how many people have made a connection to the music that I am making and the songs that I have put out,” Smith said. “That is pretty damn rewarding.”
Long before Smith was earning accolades as a country singer, he was the lead singer of the Canadian rock band Default.
As a member of Default, he remembers how the band fell into the trap many artists fall into when creating their second album.
“We had so much success with our first one that we fell into that trap, the age-old trap of you have your whole life to write your first record and two months to write your second,” he said. “We fell into that and we should have been writing and taking it a lot more seriously … and we got caught with our pants down.”
Fortunately for Smith, who became a solo artist in 2012, he was given another chance to create a second album.
“I am never going to be caught with my pants down again,” he said.
Last year, Smith released his second full-length country record titled, Lifted.
The record, which was recently nominated for a 2015 Juno Award for Best Country Album, is the follow up to his debut album, Jumped Right In.
Learning from the mistakes he made with Default, Smith said he really wanted to ensure that Lifted, gave him the ability to put on a much stronger live show.
“I really wanted to make sure that this next batch of songs in this record gave me that dynamic ammunition for the live show and this tour,” he said.
Although Smith is currently working on new material, he doesn’t plan to release a new record until next year.
For the moment Smith remains focused on touring and putting on the best live shows that he can.
“Now the challenge for me is to take the live show up a notch,” he said. “The minute you slow down there is somebody ready to pass you.”
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