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Sugar Hill Records announces it has signed Corey Smith. The artist’s eagerly anticipated tenth album and label debut, While the Gettin’ Is Good, is slated for release Summer 2015. The signing was announced yesterday on Rolling Stone Country.
Smith says, “I’ve poured more blood, sweat, and tears into it, this album, than all of my other records combined. It has taken a tremendous toll on me both emotionally and financially. So I can’t stress enough how relieved and excited I am to have finally found the right label partner to release it with. In the end, it’s Sugar Hill’s high level of enthusiasm and commitment to putting the art ahead of the marketing that makes them the obvious choice. I’m grateful to call Sugar Hill home and looking forward to working with them.”
Smith’s self titled release was produced by Keith Stegall, best known for his work with fellow Georgians Zac Brown Band and country icon Alan Jackson, and recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN, and Ronnie’s Place in Nashville, TN, with all songs written solely by Smith.
In today’s country music climate, there is an abundance of artists and songwriters chomping at the bit to tell you just how “country” they are. But none represents the genuine rural lifestyle quite like Smith. Born and raised in the bucolic town of Jefferson, Ga., just a few miles northwest of the musical hotbed of Athens, Corey has carved out a successful career by writing and singing not about the idealized country imagery of trucks and bonfires, but by depicting truthfully the experience of growing up far from big-city sidewalks.
“Country music is all those things that art is supposed to be. It’s populist, it’s infectious and, most importantly, it’s about people,” says Smith. “So country music should be about artists holding a mirror back to themselves to reflect what they’re experiencing in their own little towns.”
Clearly, country fans feel the same way. Smith has amassed an unfailingly devout fan base, not only in his native Southeast region, but all around the nation, simply by telling it the way it is. He has also previously released nine albums—including 2011’s Top 20 release The Broken Record—all written and produced by Smith himself. And his concerts, documented on 2012’s live release, Live in Chattanooga, regularly sell out, with audiences singing along to such fan favorites as the coming-of-age anthem “Twenty-One,” the nostalgic time warp “If I Could Do It Again” and the group hug “I Love Everyone.” Smith already has an extensive list of tour dates planned for early 2015 to support While the Gettin’ Is Good.
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