Nate Smith’s path to country music success is a story of resilience, heartbreak, and redemption. Born and raised in Paradise, California, Smith developed a love for music early on, drawing inspiration from artists like Garth Brooks, Bob Seger, and Nirvana. After an initial attempt at launching his career in Nashville, he returned home, believing his dream was over. In 2018, tragedy struck when a wildfire devastated his hometown, leaving him with nothing but his passion for music. Channeling his pain into songwriting, he penned ‘One of These Days,' a deeply personal track that went viral and reignited his career.
Blending gritty country soul with rock influences and powerhouse vocals, Smith quickly gained momentum, securing a record deal with Sony Music Nashville. His self-titled debut album featured the Platinum-certified No. 1 hit ‘Whiskey on You,' solidifying his place as one of country music’s rising stars. His sophomore album, ‘California Gold,' expanded his sound and included a standout duet with Avril Lavigne on ‘Bulletproof.' Now, with his latest single ‘Nobody Likes Your Girlfriend,' a collaboration with HARDY, Smith teases the next chapter of his career. Through his music, he continues to prove that no matter how many setbacks life throws your way, there’s always a path forward.
We caught up with him at the C2C festival in London to talk all about his career. You can read our review of his set at the festival right here.
Thanks for your time today, Nate! How's the European trip been going?
We've been out here probably nearly three weeks now! It's been awesome. We started in Stockholm and I had a few days to get over the jet lag there and I've been able to soak it all up -the fans, the shows – I'm already so excited to come back again!
Can you share why you got pulled over by the police in Copenhagen a few nights ago?
Wasn't that wild? I thought we were actually going to jail!! We were in Copenhagen and I was literally just going to the bus to grab something and we just saw blue lights! We got pulled over but we don't really know why – we were in an uber and the cops were shining their lights in the back window and the uber driver was, like, ‘say something in Danish to them!' and I was, like, ‘I don't know anything in Danish!' (laughing) We were fine, we were good but it was all very bizarre!
Welcome BACK to the UK and the C2C festival – we loved seeing you in the Countryline tent / bar stage last time.
I loved that tent! That moment and that set was huge for me, so was the Spotlight stage – they were such important moments in my career. Second on the bill today to Cody Johnson, I mean, WHAT??? I don't know who we tricked to have to get that slot but I'm here and I love it! (laughing)
Apologies for the weather here – it's hardly ‘Crash My Playa' standard! (Nate played that festival in Mexico in January)
It was pretty warm there, right? (laughing) That festival was insane – I'd never played Mexico before and when you get up on the stage there are people in the pool behind you and people in a bigger pool in front of you, it's crazy! It was absolute chaos – probably so much pee in those pools, right? (laughing) It's a great festival but man, it's chaos!
You've got a 50 minute festival set tonight. How do you approach that kind of set compared to a headline show of your own?
You really have to pick and choose moments. Each song has to bring something different at a festival. You know, you need to look at your songs and think, ‘is this song going to bring too much of a lull?,' ‘do they know this song well enough for us to be able to play it?'
I think it's also really cool to throw in a cover during a festival set so that people who don't know your music can see you play something by somebody they, potentially, do know. That can be powerful. The main thing is to just keep the energy levels high and give people a taste of what you are about and what your headline shows could look like if they came to one of them.
50 minutes is just about long enough to do what you need to do, maybe 65 minutes is the ideal? Have you ever been to a concert where you think, ‘I'm so happy to be here but, man, this is going on too long now'? There's a sweet spot around the 50 minute to an hour mark.
Reflecting on your two albums and EPs like ‘Through the Smoke,' how do you feel you are evolving and growing as an artist?
The goal is to truly learn your voice and work out who you are. When you are starting out you are not really sure who you are and where you fit into things. I know my voice so well now and I know when I'm in the studio how to get the right parts and the best out of me.
My song selection is also growing and I'm beginning to understand what matters there. I try to keep everything about the melodies so that we record anthem after anthem.
Collaborations have been a notable part of your career so far. Tell me how you came to work on two songs with Avril Lavigne.
I didn't know we were going to do two songs! She didn't want to do a slow song so she agreed to do ‘Bulletproof' but I always thought about her doing ‘Can You Die From a Broken Heart?' because there was that reminiscence on that that I thought was perfect for her voice. Once we did ‘Bulletproof' and she heard how great that was she gave the go-ahead to also put out ‘….Broken Heart' She'd recorded both but wasn't sure about ‘… Broken Heart' until she heard what a great job we did on ‘Bulletproof.'
And now a collaboration with HARDY on ‘Nobody Likes Your Girlfriend'?
He's an absolute hero of mine to the point where I was scared to even ask him! He sent it to me as a pitch and said ‘Do you want to record this?' I was, like ‘YESSSSS' (laughing) But then followed up with the ‘… but will you feature on it with me?' It took a while for him to come back but I'm so glad he did.
HARDY wrote that song with a crew of guys but I think the sentiment behind it is something that we have all felt. I've been that person you know, the ‘dude, you have to dump her bro' guy with friends!
We are a nation of deep-cut lovers here in the UK. is there a song on ‘California Gold' that people like me are not talking to you enough about?
Man. I think ‘Gave it All' is a really good song – that song has so much energy. I love ‘Perfect,' that's a really good smash of a song and ‘What Alone Looks Like' is one of my favourites too. We start off our live set with that song, it's such a cool rock song.
The first time I heard ‘Sleeve' I felt like it was different to anything else you'd recorded around that time and I feel the same about ‘Not of This Earth.'
That song got sent to me through some amazingly talented folks that work more so in the pop world than Country. You know, they work with the Jonas Brothers and stuff. I felt like there was this Ed Sheeran vibe to it that made me fall in love with it from the off.
You're teasing a new song called ‘No Stranger to This Pain' on your socials. Tell me about that song.
Bro! I was kinda scared to tease it because that song is so important to me. It's so emotional and honest to me in so many ways. I was scared that if it didn't get a reaction on my socials it would taint the whole thing for me and make me get in my head about it. I didn't even know if I wanted to tease it because of that. I'm glad we did, though, it seems to be connecting with people. I don't want to spoil anything but there's a really cool part at the end of the song that nobody is going to expect! It's piano and vocal and brings it all back to a songs like ‘Wreckage' and ‘I Don't Want To Go to Heaven.'
It's all part of the deluxe album that's coming. There's another song on there that will feel like the past too, that links back to my earlier songs.
What's the ball park ETA on the deluxe release? Can you share that with us?
We're still talking about it but I'm hoping for April or May, very soon!
I feel like I'm interviewing half of Nate Smith right now because you have been on this amazing weight loss journey. What was the motivation behind you doing that?
I wasn't happy. I didn't like how I fit in clothes and I didn't like having to do video stuff and watching myself back on the screen. I was really insecure about it and I wanted to feel my best, both physically and mentally. I'm not out of the woods yet – I wanna get down to somewhere in the 180s and at the moment I'm probably somewhere around 220 but I was 275 before so I have lost quite a bit and I'm super-proud of myself.
I don't really like to work out – I know some people love it – but I just want to eat less food and more healthy types of food than I was before.
You are out on tour with Jason Aldean this summer. Have you played with him before?
We have done a couple of things before and we've met a few times now so I'm pretty fired up about those shows. I'm going to be a really good fit for his crowd, I hope. We're both Country / Rock and it's going to be awesome, an important tour for me and one that I'm really looking forward to.
A lot of artists use the C2C festival as exposure and a springboard to come back and do their own headline shows……………
Already working on it, 100% And i'm not just saying that, we are actively working on coming back right now – my team is already talking to folks and putting something together for 2026.
Catch our review of Nate's C2C set on the Sunday in London right here
