Patio Show: Drew Ryder Smith

Drew Ryder Smith is a country music singer and award winning professional songwriter. Born and raised between “Music City” (Nashville, TN) and “The Hit Making Capital of the World” (Muscle Shoals, AL), his career in music was probably inevitable. Drew’s work has been recorded in many countries including the US, Canada, Ireland, Germany and Australia (among others) by legends like Merle Haggard, Nashville powerhouse Randy Houser, Rob Snyder, Jason Charles Miller, Kevin Denney, John Schneider, and Australian-Canadian country singer, Gord Bamford, who stands as one of the most decorated artists in Canadian country music and the only two-time winner of the CMA Global Country Artist of the Year award. Drew learned his first chords on his grandmother’s 1964 Gibson Hummingbird and wrote his first song (which he now describes as “terrible”) when he was only 12. He started his music career in radio at the age of 14 when he innocently called the studio to inquire about working there and his deep voice led the station manager to believe he was an adult with radio experience. When a 14 year old Drew showed up at the studio, after a shared laugh at the mix up, his unique voice inspired the manager to keep him around and he began working as an on air personality. Drew has named his early influences include: Steve Earle, John Prine, Don Williams, Merle Haggard, Foster & Lloyd, Jackson Browne and, last but certainly not least, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which happens to be the first concert he ever attended – at the age of two. His pastor father relays that they skipped church to attend the concert and little Drew played air guitar throughout the whole thing. Drew toured coast to coast for several years in his early career and has shared the stage with Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Big & Rich, Lee Brice, Lady A and many others. He describes opening for Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium with only a stool and his acoustic guitar as one of the highlights of his career. Opening for one of his heroes with the likes of John Prine, Tim and Faith, Keith Urban and top industry executives in the audience, and his mother in the wings, is a story he rarely tells but that is close to his heart. Drew’s long songwriting career has also afforded him the opportunity to write with Don Schlitz (“The Gambler,” “When You Say Nothing At All”), Rob Snyder (“She Got The Best Of Me” – Luke Combs), Driver Williams (“Smoke A Little Smoke” – Eric Church), Bobby Pinson (“Some Of It” – Eric Church) and he continues to work with some of the brightest talent in Nashville. His first gold record hangs on his mother’s/father’s wall.