I remember a moment a couple years ago, I went to see Brandon Lake perform at Bridgestone with Leah. We sat together in the lower bowl of the arena looking straight from the left side on the stage. I remember this feeling very undetached from my job as I looked at the stage, the screens, the lights, the band. I remember watching Brandon, who I know and have spent time with on multiple occasions, on stage and in a moment catching in myself this a thought of separation.

How cool is it for him, how cool is he, to be on that stage right now, thousands of people watching his gift in a sold-out arena. That must be so cool.

I genuinely thought this. Then I remembered.

That exact night I was hopping in my tour bus to go open up for Luke Bryan in an arena in Indiana the very next day.

Even in the midst of actively living this dream, it is often hard to realize the truth of a moment. The feeling in it is often much different than the imagined one outside of it.

I don’t know if that makes sense. Maybe it does maybe it doesn’t.

I share that story because something certainly felt different last weekend, standing on the stage of that Indiana arena. It felt much more surreal than maybe ever before. I have played hundreds of amphitheaters and arenas but last weekend with Thomas Rhett, as direct support to a crowd of 10 thousand, it truly felt like my first time ever on a stage again.

These last two weekends, standing on that stage, performing again, being on the road again, it has all felt so sacred to me. The kind of sacred that can only be felt when the Lord has walked you through a season of distance from your greatest joy. After four years of touring constantly, to take this year off, has truly changed my perspective on gratitude of this dream.

Job 1:21 says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

At 21 when the dream began, and it quickly found favor, I would be lying to say that I approached every moment with sacred gratitude for every single open door or opportunity. But now, at 25, with what has honestly been two years of testing in my faith on the dream, to have God allow me the chance to perform again these last weekends have brought my heart to such a true place of surrender and gratitude.

My heart was tender before the Lord the morning after Evansville.

Father thank you, thank you, thank you, I proclaimed. If these are the last shows I ever play, the last shows you ever give me, I will honor you with each moment I have.

The reality of what I have walked through is to realized that all things in my life are by the will of God alone. And the same God who opens doors is that same one who can close them. In both situations, it is His kindness and love that acts. But with gratitude and humility have I been overwhelmed at the kindness of Christ to give me the opportunity to stand upon these stages once again.

It is one of the greatest joys of my life.

There was something I felt shift in me over these last couple weekends of shows. It has been the truth that my career is not about me. It is about y’all, it is about impact, it is about using this platform and gift I have been given and using every single second of it to serve others over myself.

I have prayed that the lord would open many doors in 2027 to be on the road again, and already I have seen some small answers. My hope is that next year we would get the chance to play 100 shows again, but I am certain now more than ever it is all only by His will. In this I trust fully.

The lord gives and He takes. In both I trust Him and say, Blessed be his name.

Thanks for being apart of this story with me.

-Conner

Acoustic and intimate, a night of songs, story telling, and community. Play some songs, hang together by a fire after type vibe.

The first one is finally happening!

In a month, we are doing the first one ever, and we are doing it at the place I played my first ever show at the age of seven. If you have never been to Liepers Fork, be prepared for the coolest town you’ve ever seen. This night is going to be insanely special and I’m hoping every one of y’all is there.

I know most of y’all can’t get to Tennessee on a random Wednesday in September, but if y’all do make the trip, I promise the night will be worth it.

There are only about 100 tickets available and I want y’all to have them first.

GET TICKETS HERE

I am going to post on socials tomorrow at 10am CT, and it will sell out very quick so y’all get them today!

I am super excited for this special night.

First ever STORYTELLER’S NIGHT! I’ll see y’all there.

e

Not the kind of “horse farm” that just simply has land and horses but a real one. One that prepares all year for the Kentucky Derby.

Named Winstar, its ground, arguably holy, sits 15 minutes outside of Lexington. Winstar holds true reverence through all the world, and it was a great honor to spend a few days on its ground. In 2018, Winstar produced the 13th horse to ever win the triple crown, a horse named Justified who won every race it ever ran in, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. As we walked around the property, soaking in its untraceable beauty, both rest and fire revived my soul.

Hebrews 12 has been a pillar for my walk with Jesus in this season.

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (verses 1-2)

I believe in all of our lives, Christ has set before us a race to run. While we have breath in our lungs, each one of us has been made BY God FOR God, to live within the divine calling of our lives. A calling to pursue holiness and purity, a calling to let the goodness of God be known to all we encounter. Often times I find people feel lost in “their calling”but the truth is, our calling is the simple part, it has been clearly told to us all. We all have the same calling to “make disciples of all nations.” The vessel God uses for that in each of us is the unique part. However, there is certainly no vessel greater than the other to get to this same destination. A school teacher speaking into the life of children, is just as important as the hotel clerk walking in joy, is just as important as me writing songs that might carry the relatability of human emotions.

In all of our lives, there is a race that is set before us, and it is a race that only can be judged in light of eternity. I really desire to run it well and with endurance.

As I saw the horses this weekend, horses that are some of the greatest runners in the world, I marveled at the discipline they must have to be great. These are horses who train to be great, they dedicate their lives to it. Greatness requires everything. Endurance requires enduring.

I, naturally, thought of Jeremiah 12.

If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? (verse 5)

Taking this year off touring has been both hard and beautiful. I will be honest that much of it I have missed often. I certainly am excited for the day I feel a release to return fully to a touring schedule. I miss the shows, the travel, the sleep in the tour bus, the cities, the band, and most of all you guys. After 4 years straight of close to 100 shows a year, the full stop has not been easy.

However, it has also given me so much time to stop and reflect on the gift of all of it. What an incredible gift I have been given. Because of y’all, I have been entrusted with this career to write songs and travel the world offering them to others. No words, by weight or length, could ever express the gratitude and reverence I have for that truth. THANK YOU.

Being given such an amazing opportunity, I want to give everything I have to stewarding it well. When I say stewarding well, I don’t mean towards a goal of highest fame or success but toward a goal of greatest possible impact to the people in which my job might reach.

The time off the road has allowed me to look back on the things I did well on the road versus the things I did not. The places I won and the places I failed. And in this reflection it gets me so excited.

This weekend we return again! If only for three shows over the next two weekends, but still it is shows again! The first two, as direct support for Thomas Rhett, the place it all started for me. What an amazing blessing.

I look to this weekend as a practice run for the next chapter of touring. Touring that is fully intentional and on mission. Touring that is not simply surviving but truly alive. Touring that does not get weary in the foot race of men but touring that contends with horses.

This is my mindset heading in. I believe this time off the road has been so intentional by God so that He might work growth in me in many ways. I am grateful for the chance this weekend to run again.

-Conner

Full freedom.

In the months that followed that beautiful day, I began waking up at 4:30 with full energy in the morning most days. The excitement of life now that it was mine again was invigorating. The biggest fear for most artists, “not having a record deal”, was the gift I was most grateful for!

It has been almost ten months now; 9 since my first independent release, Ain’t Got Enough Faith, in November. We have so far, put out 7 songs (alongside a 10 song acoustic record), and even now, I still feel the same fire I felt the first day I was free.

Here are the top three things I’ve learned over the last 10 months.

1. A life of faith is the path of peace

   Romans 1:17 has become my life verse recently.

   “The righteousness of God is revealed by faith for faith”

   The goodness, realness, glory, faithfulness, and righteousness of God is revealed to others by living our own lives by radical faith. I take this verse to be that I am called to continually place my life in situations, by obedience to the Lord, where only He might receive the glory for any success I might gain. With every turn of my life, let it be known that all that comes will not be by my own talent, gifts, strategy, or effort, but by the faith and breath of God alone. In living this way, and taking my hope out of my own trying or the advice of others, I have been blown away at the peace it has brought. Knowing without a doubt I am exactly where He wants me now, I can be convinced that any gain or loss that comes, will be by His will alone.

2. The power of ownership

   It has been so cool to see y’all’s support over this last year. I truly have never felt closer or tighter with yall than I do now, and it is all because I truly feel like yall are with me on the journey. I’ve said it 100 times, and I’ll be saying it 100 more. The way y’all have supported, and shared, and loved the music has been such a game changer. With zero dollars invested in marketing, we have been able to have these songs grow with each release, and to stream just as well as we did with a record deal! That just goes to show the power of true believers. It means more than you know. The true ownership I feel over these songs has changed everything about the pride I get in releasing and promoting the music. There is no price to feeling this full investment: personally, with my team, and with the support of you guys.

3. The price of freedom

   The cost for freedom will always be worth it. There is a parable Jesus speaks from Matthew 13 that has been firing me up recently,

   “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.“

   The reality of all things in life that are truly worth doing come at a cost. There is a direct correlation of the risk, sacrifice, and gamble of something to the reward in which you will receive in return. Often times in life, we get so caught up in the cost of the sacrifice and we never allow ourselves even the chance at the reward of the return. This man from the parable sold all he had to receive something worth so much more. He did this knowing there was gold to be found on the land, however it probably was still a challenge for him to let go of every single thing he owned. Sometimes in life there are moments God calls you to step out of the boat in blind faith, and give up everything that is safe for He is calling you to so much more. It certainly comes at a cost, but the “return on investment” is beyond anything we could ever imagine before. Just 10 months in, I can already see the truth in this.

Thanks for being by our side. Love Y’all

-Conner

By July 24th the song was out into the world, playing in the Cardinals stadium, and playing on the radio.

This is definitely my new personal record on turn around time of a song, but this weekend was another reminder of why I took the risk to become an independent artist. FULL FREEDOM!

This was a special weekend for the fam and I. Thursday night I played the Grand Ole Opry alongside Lainey Wilson and Switchfoot. Though I had hoped to stay and see them preform, I sadly had to play my three songs early in the night and immediately hit the road towards St. Louis.

Jake, Jetty, and I hopped in Jetty’s high school 4-runner and headed north west by 8:30pm, not to arrive to the Arch until 1:30am.

We drove through the night because the Friday ahead was slammed. With the new song out in the world, we booked a packed day of promotion in STL. We met at the KMOX radio station at 9am, hopping on air with them to talk Cardinals baseball. KMOX being the longtime radio home of the Cardinals, this song was really written for them. They played in on air, and you could tell it was a special thing for them to be named in a country song.

Then we headed over right after to the STL country station WIL 92.3. Hanging there for an hour, we preformed live, shot some videos, and did an interview. I have known the guys who run this station for years and it was great to see them again. Later that afternoon, I was able to hear Ballgame On The Radio, on the radio, when WIL played it that afternoon. It has been a while since I have heard my song on the radio, and it felt even cooler knowing there was no record label behind it.

The Cardinals had a whole night planned for us at the game. Playing the Reds, a 7:15 start time, we arrived at the park at 3:30. When we arrived they gave me a customized Cardinals home jersey. When asked earlier in the week what number I wanted, I asked them if they could do something special. Normally on all jerseys like this, I tell them Smith 13, my go to number all the way through my playing days, but on this jersey I wanted something different.

My family and I are Cardinals fans because of my great grandparents. Living in a small-town called Caruthersville, Missouri their whole lives, and still in their 30’s when they became grandparents to my dad, my dad was raised there every summer going with his Grandpa often to see the Cardinals.

Dewey and Peggy Coomer, Papa and Grandma, were my great grandparents, both of whom lived well into my teens, and a walk through their home was a museum of cardinal decorations. Papa, dad, my brother and I went to the very first game ever played at the Cardinals current stadium, opened in 2006. There is a picture of us standing together, all smiles at the joy of being apart of this history.

The album cover of Ballgame on the radio is my Papa as well. A picture of him from a game in the late 80’s.

So, when we arrived to the game and they gave me my jersey, I was proud of show my dad. On the back it read Coomer, and the number said 19, which was my dad’s high school number. Though I wore it that night, it was a gift to him.

We watched Batting Practice, and met the Cardinals manager for the first time, after texting back and forth with him about the song in the weeks prior. He brought Leah and I back into the club house before the game and we talked for 20-30 minutes. He brought Jordan Walker over to us to meet, and told us he had played Jordan the song a few days before. Jordan thanked me for his shout out, and I thanked him for winning the Home Run Derby.

The game was fun, but we did lose… Sadly.

We played a small acoustic show the next morning with the country station and I got to meet some of y’all which was cool. A few of the Cardinals coaches even came to the show, including Oli, the Cardinals Manager, which was very kind of them.

A few weeks before this weekend, I texted Cory Asbury and asked him what the best show to come to was going to be on his tour with Forrest Frank. Cory being like an older brother, and also having known Forrest for years, and being so impacted by Forrest’s obedience to the Lord through his career, having missed the Nashville show they did, I knew I had to make my way to one of them before the tour was over. Cory told me to just look at the calendar and come to whichever one I could. You can imagine my joy when I saw they were playing St. Louis, the very weekend we were in town!

Going to that show Saturday night was incredible. Few people’s stories and obedience have impacted my life more than Forrest’s has. I met Forrest 5 years ago at a Thomas Rhett show at Billy Bob’s in Texas. At the time, he was coming off their first massive hit, Sunday Best, in the his band Surfaces. We hung all night that night and became friends, but in the years that followed, watching his surrender, to step out of the band, put out worship songs independently and to then see such insane fruit from his obedience, that journey has certainly convicted me in ways I can’t explain.

I have been to two of Forrest’s shows before, and both times I have left with a heart of complete surrender to the plan of the Lord. It was really special to see Cory up there with Forrest in worship. It all was a reminder to me of the perfect ways of the Lord.

We hung together for a little while after the show, and it was fun to see them outside of the Nashville. I couldn’t believe how lucky we got on the timing.

The weekend came together perfectly and was one I will never forget. I was super grateful for all the things that aligned. One of the coolest parts of it all, is that when we went to our seats for the game Friday night, we arrived and realized that we were sitting in the exact same place as I stood with Papa, Dad, and Cooper to take that picture above, 20 years before.

-Conner

Leah and I started The Storyteller Brand because the ethos of pretty much everything I do is centered around one core belief.

The belief that stories matter. To live one, to tell one, to be apart of one, is the reason we are all here. The heart of God is found in the heart of storytelling.

Every hat we make comes from a true story, and the story of this hat is one of my favorites. Pappaw was a man I met a few years back on the side of a rive. Here is that story.

PAPPAW HAT - Use code STC for free shipping!

Have you ever heard of the Holston River?

Tucked into the mountains of Appalachia, it stitches together the lines of Tennessee and Virginia, claiming to be one of the richest fly fishing rivers in all the south. People throughout the world have travelled to engage it’s waters; chasing the high of convincing a rainbow trout their hand made fly has a living breath. The Holston is unified as one on it’s drive from Knoxville to Kingsport, journeying almost as the crow flies. However, right as it meets Virginia it branches into a family tree. The Holston River surrounds the town of Bristol as three, the North Fork, South Fork, and Middle Fork Holston River. All given their name with clear directive. If you have never heard of these waters, don’t worry, I hadn’t either. Not until I spent an evening along it’s South Fork with a man whose name I still don’t know.

I have spent the majority of my adult life traveling this country. Most nights I find myself in rooms with strangers, my name on the building outside, gathered together under a cohesive love of country music. I grew up in the genre’s hometown of Nashville, and fell in love with its melody by the time I could say that word. Writing songs since I was six, a pursuit that has yet to waiver, I realize now that what I fell in love within country music, is the same origin that brings me to this book. The beauty of stories.

It was a few years ago now I met this river. Coming from a weekend in the Smoky Mountains, I had a show to play in Abington, Virginia set for that Tuesday night. Just two hours away from Abington with a Monday bridging the gap of my time in the mountains to my time back on the job, I found myself in a rare position. Though I am gone often, very rarely am I alone. Instead of coming back to Nashville, I told my band I would just meet them there. I woke up Monday morning and I got in my truck. I smiled through the windshield with a wide open day made to be filled with nothing but living.

I had never been to Bristol before, the town like a child with divorced parents, half of it’s borders in Tennessee the other half in Virginia. A place famous for its racing track and country music roots, I drove into the town fascinated by it’s hidden history. I ate lunch at a burger joint, said to be the last place Hank Williams was seen alive. I made my way to “The Birthplace of Country Music Museum,” where I patiently lingered dissecting each wall and exhibit. I walked the streets of downtown each side of the roads, a different state to claim.

It was a beautiful day, the kind of pretty you can only find within the mountain as the calendar has fully let go of summer. It was an early week in September. As the hours of the day dwindled, I began to think of the night and where I would stay, I looked on my phone for the hotels near by, but in this search, I felt in my spirit that I was still unfinished in my adventure.

I am just gonna drive into the mountains. Surly I will find a cabin, a lodge, a motel. I thought to myself. I’ve stayed in enough, best westerns, and rarely do they leave me with a memory. The sun was still in effect as I drove. I think I headed north, but my main aim was just to get lost.

I had been driving for close to an hour with no signs of a stay when I began to think my plans were miscalculated. That was the time I came upon this river. The river traced outside the left window of my truck as the two-lane drive curved slowly. Appearing in the windshield a wooden fishing lodge with a phone number on its sign. I called to check my luck, which was none. I kept going.

Around the bend, a set of multiple one room cabins sat on the sunset side of the hill overlooking the valley. A woman was mowing the acres outside so I pulled my truck in her drive as she forsook her row to meet me.

“Excuse me ma’am! Do yall any place to stay tonight?”

“No sir we do not.” She paused, then added in her slow southern elegance. “If you keep going straight on this road, there is a man who might. The sign outside says Pappaw’s”

I thanked her and kept going.

It was a couple miles down when I saw the sign she had mentioned.

Pappaw’s Fishing Pad

It was just a home. Cut into the hillside right on the river, two floors with the basement, grey vinyl paneling, a cement deck under a covering. Right next to an old one lane bridge, I pulled into the driveway where I saw an old man sitting in the shade of the porch. He sat in a black metal chair, wearing a worn down farmers hat, maroon Carhartt shirt with a pair of jeans. His face held a million memories.

“I’m Pappaw” He said as I got out my truck, before even standing up.

I introduced myself and asked if he could help me.

“Yall got any rooms tonight? I’m just passing through.”

“Sure do. Let me show you around, and you can pick what you want.”

He walked me through each floor, gaving me a proper tour of the place. It seemed all the rooms were open this night. Too be fair, it was a Monday. I picked the downstair, “Pappaw’s Pad Number 2” if you look on the website. It had a kitchen, living room, and a couple bedrooms, but all I had to fill it with was myself and a backpack.

Now I must admit to you, I was a little in my own world this night. I had been working on a writing project for months that had a clear deadline, and one I felt pretty behind on, so I got to Pappaw’s about 5:30 that evening, my main goal being to turn off my phone and get at least a couple of hours of writing done before bed. A night alone, sitting by a river; for a writer this is like gold. But Pappaw seemed to linger around, he wanted to talk, and I knew I’d be a fool not to make this new friend.

He was 86, but sharp as a tack. We sat together on the porch looking out at the Holston as we traded questions the way new friends do. I asked about the place. He said he had had it for years, renting it out to fishers from all over the world. He didn’t care much about the money, he just loved the people it let him meet. He asked me what I was doing there. I told him about my job and how it was taking me to Virginia for a night. I didn’t say much on my work, but I did tell him I had played the Grand Ole Opry. He thought that was pretty special.

I learned about his family, his kids, and grandkids. He beemed with pride when he told me about his grandson leading the grace before there dinner the week before. He told me about his wife, and his whole life he had lived in this small town of Tennessee. He had been married for 60 years to the love of his life, but his bride had already gone to meet jesus. He wiped the tears he tried to hide, as he spoke of her.

I remembered it was September only because I sat with Pappaw just weeks before I would ask my wife to marry me. I had just gotten the ring, and I felt myself starting to freak out. After an hour on that porch I asked him about it.

“You know, Pappaw in a couple weeks, I am going to ask my girlfriend to marry me. I am pretty nervous to be honest with you. You were married for 60 years, can I ask you what you learned?”

He paused to think. The evening was quiet.

“All I can tell you is don’t ever give up. Through the hard times and the good times always fight for each other.” He waited again, then added, “Just stay in the church and you’ll will be alright.”

After a couple hours, Pappaw asked if I’d like to join him for dinner. We got in my truck together and drove to a local general store down the road to grab some sandwiches and some glass cokes. On the drive back he wanted to show me his friends farm, so we walked the acres together full of horses, chickens, and roosters. Then right as the sun was setting, he asked if I’d like to see the South Holston Dam. We drove to the top looking out over the place he loved so much.

This was when I learned about the magic of the Holston River.

“Tell me about this river. What is the story.”

He started to cry as he spoke. To Pappaw, that river we were overlooking, the one that framed the sunset like a scene told by Mark Twain wasn’t a list of facts or a place on a map. It was his heart, it was his life, it held his memories, it told his story.

I thought I was driving into the woods to find a bed, but I realized that night, I was there to meet a man.

I learned something that night. As I drove away that next morning, I realized… The gift of life is all found in the beauty of stories. The ones we make, the ones we tell, the ones we hear, the ones we leave behind.

Pappaw’s life had seen 63 more years than mine by the time we shook hands, but that night it didn’t matter. We were like old friends, woven together by stories and a river.

-Conner

Free shipping for Pappaw Hat

When should we do the next storyteller zoom?

-Conner

Next upppppp

HOUR WITH YOU

Cool story behind this song I will tell soon…

But until then…

Presave so you don’t have to post save

Share with friends

and LETS GO!!

Love y’all.

Presave link

-Conner

Happy Monday gang

-Conner

These last few weeks have been busy. Things are in full swing with the new song, the next one is coming hot on its heels. I am grateful for all that feels back in restored form.

Let’s celebrate a few wins.

Easy on the Eyes has been doing really well. Last week, on Spotify, it increased daily listens by 4 thousand streams every day. It went from 18K a day to 22 to 26 to 30 day by day. This is the first song that has done that in a minute.

Since the top of the year we have grown from 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify to what should hit 1.6mil by the end of the week.

Social media has been starting to get dialed again, and I’ve had a ton of fun with y’all on there over the last few weeks. (Y’all keep commenting, it helps!)

We are going to keep pumping Easy, and about to start promoting Match For Your Memory, which is a couple weeks out!

Feeling very excited to keep building.

It is always a hard balance to find between priorities. This job, like many I’m sure, can so easily consume my every waking thought when I am not diligent. I can find myself, constantly thinking about what is next, what I need to do, or how a song is doing, from first waking thought to last. But, this last week I have tried to be intentional to find time alone with Jesus and empty my thoughts at His feet. I have found, He is the only one who can sustain me.

This Saturday morning I felt a word that was such an encouragement to me in my time with Him.

The craziest thing ever to me, is the intentionality of which God speaks to us. If we can learn to still our minds, it is unreal to watch as His voice will enter our thoughts.

I was praying, and honestly in and out of random thoughts and prayer, when I felt the thought of a random verse, Zechariah 4:10. In full transparency my first thought was I wasn’t even positive Zechariah was a chapter in the Bible (further proof it was God’s thought), so I opened to the table of continents and found it.

I opened to the verse and was amazed at what it read.

“Do not despise these small beginnings for the Lord rejoices that the work has begun.” (NLV)

This verse was so timely for me in this moment. The context of this verse is in encouragement to Israel in rebuilding the temple. In light of the grandness of the idea of this temple they have been asked to build, they are discouraged at the daunting thought of how they might ever accomplish it. To lay the first stone feels so small in comparison to all the work that needs to be done.

I am sure we can all relate to that at some point in our lives. We can have a dream for something, but the thought of beginning and taking a first step feels almost meaningless with the scale of how big or far away the completed vision is in our mind.

This verse reminded me to not look past all that has already been accomplished. The work has begun. We have already come such a long way, and though there is so much more to build and do, we can be sure that the Lord is already “[rejoicing] that the work has begun.”

I feel what we are building is built upon His calling, but finding the balance of staying within His grace without trying to strive on my own accord is the wrestle in this season. In the lord speaking this verse over me this weekend, I was reminded that He both rejoices now that the work has begun, and that what He has promised He will one day complete in the work He has set before me.

Same is true for y’all.

-Conner

So far, this journey of beginning again and releasing music independently, starting with Ain’t Got Enough Faith back in November, has been something that has just fallen together. Each release has come naturally and unforced, just allowing our intuition to lead the way. The one thing I knew with certainly upon the return was that a foundation had to be laid first and foremost before we would be in a place to start building again. What last year brought was not just a pause or rest. It was not a new chapter, it was a new book. Last year was a moment to start over again, from the studs and build this career with so much more clarity than I ever did before. As catchy as Easy on the Eyes is, we can all agree, that song coming out in November as my first song back would have felt a little ridiculous and tone deaf.

These last few months, from Faith, to Man, to the acoustic record, to Never Be Gone, each of those songs carried a weight and emotional maturity. I put those out as pieces to be laid as the foundation of this new house. The foundation of a house is the most important part of it, however, no one celebrates over the foundation. We celebrated in the building, the growing, and the beauty of the new home.

As I have promoted the song on instagram, I have had fun with my captions.

“This sounds like a Conner Smith song.” I wrote on the first video of the bench.

“Foundation is laid. Time to build.” I put on a video of me at some random house site I found while killing time waiting to pick up Leah from somewhere.

“We back???” Finally, I wrote on the video of me dancing across the street two days before the song came out.

Though simple in these captions, the message I hoped to portray was this.

The work of healing has been done and together it is time to rejoice once again. It’s time to have fun again. Page one of a new book.

Ecclesiasties 3:4 says,

“[There is] a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance”

It is time to dance once again.

Thank you Jesus.

Life comes in seasons. The rhythm of joy and sorrow, like sets of waves in the ocean, fully outside of our control. However, I have come to realize the beauty of life is found in the space that can hold both with equal grace and humility.

The reality of opposites is that it is in the one that the other finds all it’s importance.

To know sorrow is to know joy in it’s fullness.

This is all so much bigger than music to me. I truly believe we are creating something special.

As I saw all the shares and comments and DM’s of people listening to Easy On The Eyes, I just smiled. Hundreds of posts with the words, “We are back.” I felt so much joy with each one I saw. It is unreal to feel that kind of love, to see people rejoice with you when a season of trial has passed.

In my prayer time recently, I felt felt the lord speak to me, “Get your hopes up again.” I really do feel like something good is coming our way.

My favorite part of every post I saw saying “we are back” was not the “back”, it was the “we.”

-Conner

Artists have an app, called Spotify for Artists, on their phone where they can track real time streaming on the first week of releases on spotify.

At any given moment, I can go on the app and see how many people are listening to my music through spotify at that current second.

Right now, 6:17pm, 602 people are listening to my songs, and Never Be Gone has been played 104,149 times.

You add in the numbers on the other platforms, and Never Be Gone, in just a few days, has been listened to 200,000 times. I have thought a lot about that this weekend.

200,000 times,

People have choosen to listen to my song.

They have heard my story of my Grandpa.

They have thought about someone they miss.

They have listened to my Papa Joe’s voice.

200,000 times.

The truth is, in the pursuit of growth, I can easy get numb to this reality. The reality that I have been given this platform; that I get to write songs and tell stories for a living. The reality that everytime I put out a new song, you guys get excited and listen in your cars, share it with your friends, add it to your playlists. I truly am so lucky.

There have been a lot of reason, things could slow down for my career, yet here I am more inspired, excited, and at full speed, and it is genuinly only because of yall. My heart is full of complete gratitude.

I certainly miss the road a lot of days. I am pretty anxious to get back out to play shows and see yall again! But, I know with patience, it is going to make the road that much better when we finally get there.

Never Be Gone is certainly a special one to me, but reading hundreds of comments and DM’s from yall on how this song has impacted you already, makes it that much better. I have had so many DM’s of people who have messaged me saying that after listening to the song, they went back and listned to their grandparents voicemails for the first time. I smile thinking of that moment, both bitter and sweet, hearing their loved ones voice for the first time in years, all because of a song I was lucky enough to be entrusted to write.

It’s 6:40 now. 105,072 streams. 519 people listening.

God bless Country Music.

God bless yall.

To be apart of this genre is the dream of my whole time, and we are just getting started.

-Conner

We drove up last night from WIlmington to fly back home, when we got a text our flight had been canceled.

We moved our flight to the earliest one we could get this morning, and now as I write, I am sitting on the plane with only a few sips left in my burnt airport coffee.

As y’all know, Friday we put the acoustic tapes out on DSP’s (“digital streaming platforms”, industry word for Spotify, apple, pandora, etc). I know most of y’all have already lived within these songs since November and so for y’all this “release” wasn’t anything more than helping support the cause, but that being said, I very grateful for y’all’s sharing of it. This is a record that I think will live on and grow with time. The beauty of it is found in its simplicity.

To be honest, I haven’t listened to these songs through since we released the YouTube Video. Even before we put out the tracks everywhere, I didn’t listen to them for my requested approve of the final mixes, trusting Ashton to do so. I knew the songs, and I knew the rawness of their recording. I wanted to leave them that way, prohibiting my bad habit of listening through cynical third party ears.

However, this morning, sitting in the middle seat on this airplane, 10 minutes ago, while the sun still dreams, I listened all the way through.

To be honest, my first thought…

I’m damn proud of it.

I say that from the humility and truth that it is the first project I have felt fully that way about.

These tapes are fully exsposing my mediocre ability at guitar. These tapes are mostly one take vocals. Any of these tapes will be lucky to get past 100,000 streams. But these tapes, for the first time, feel fully me.

For the first time, I felt like any person could listen to this record, and by the time the last chord rings on Free, you might actually have a good handle on who I am, as a person, as a songwriter, as an artist. This collection of songs is everything that felt real about my first tracks, and everything I attempted to create through the storytelling ep’s.

Every song on this record holds a memory to me. As I listen through, I go in my mind to the places and moments I wrote each one.

South of it

In a room with a few writer friends, as a co-writer Josh Miller, read out these lines after saying “I got an idea”, Kids in the holler playing cowboy and Indians / teens by the river turning silvers into pyramids / farming in a tractor rolling after sun down / ten points running with some cows

Never Be Gone

I wrote the full chorus of this song at a Tennessee basketball game during the SEC tournament last year. Sitting in Bridgestone Arena, I saw a film photo on instagram of one of Leah’s best friends late father standing next to his old truck. Right when I saw it, it was like the lyric and melody for this song was downloading into my mind.

All the way down

Wrote that song one night in my living room after a tough day…

Industry plant

That song was just a journal. When we recorded it I wrote that bridge on the spot right before I sang the vocal. The lyrics to that bridge might be some of my favorite on the project.

The narrow road is the one not taken / and the black sheep always gets mistaken / for a rebel til the rebel goes and wins the war / then the devil comes knocking on your front door

This record is simple. It certainly won’t change my career. But when it is all said and done, I hope it’s a marking moment for my career when the music began to click.

Thanks for the love. Keep sharing this record w people! Let’s keep building this one person at a time.

- Conner

To join TR again, opening up for him where it all began, is certainly exciting and something I feel very grateful for in his asking.

But, with these being the first shows we have announced of the year, and it only being two shows, I feel as if I should fill yall in. Daily I have been asked when my tour dates are coming, and I want to give yall the update.

There is nothing I love more in the world than to travel this country with my best friends, playing country songs in country bars. Every night, meeting each one of yall, hearing yall sing every word, every stop is another story, every show another memory. It is the greatest part of what I do. It is the whole point of what I do; connecting with yall. Being an artist can be a stressful job at times, but when it’s a Friday night, and the lights go out, I’m in the dark of back stage, my mic in my hands listening to the scream of a crowd. NOTHING else in the world matters.

That feeling, those nights, those shows is why I will never stop chasing this dream.

But here is the other side to that.

Music drives everything. Excuse me… Great music drives everything.

My live show can only be as good as my music, and right now, it’s time to get the music right.

Now I love the old stuff and some songs (I Hate Alabama, Creek Will Rise) I can’t imagine a show without them, but to be honest, last year, most nights when I would get off stage, all I would think was…

That wasn’t my best. I’m better than that.

It didn’t feel like my best because it felt like a 2023 setlist.

With everything that happened last year with my record label, a battle that had been going on for most all of 2025, I was unable to put music out, and with no new music, it is hard to put new life into the shows. That is why I had to play unreleased songs (like heart you can break) for over a year before it even would come out (which it still hasn’t lol).

So as I looked into this year, with full freedom over my music, I made the decision that until the music is right, I can’t in good faith, ask yall to spend your money on a ticket to see my show.

So here is the plan.

I am putting out an acoustic album Friday. All ten songs straight from the 42 minutes youtube video. Out Everywhere. (I’ll annouce this Wednesday so yall still act excited like I haven’t told you yet.)

Then I am putting out Never Be Gone three weeks after, fully produced. It sounds freaking sick.

Then after that… LIVE SHOW SMASHES. Back in the bag, like it was in the first days. Songs you’ve never heard. At least one song a month.

We are about to put out so much music this year, and with every song, it is all about getting back on the road so we can see yall again. Country music is made for Saturday nights together. It is my favorite thing in the world, and I promise that when we hit the road again, it will be with the best live show we have ever done times ten.

As much as I want to be out there now. I know we gotta get the music right first. Y’all deserve that.

The music feels better than ever, and it is coming real soon.

I hope that explains where our heads are at. Until then, yall strap up for the music 👀. Grateful to be on this journey with yall.

I really believe this is going to be a special year.

-Conner

-Conner

Here is 18 minutes of country love songs.

-Conner

Last night, after three hours of riding an ATV on the lake, from beside the fire in the cabin we watched the Super Bowl. The game was terrible last night, but none the less, seeing the completion of the Sam Darnold comeback story was worth the time.

One of my favorite things about sports is the poetry of it all. The storylines, the adversity, the highs and lows, someone wins and someone loses.

Seeing Darnold win a superbowl knowing his story; top draft pick, benched, traded, benched, traded, back up, starter, let go, starter, Super Bowl, reminds me the power of a dream and believing in yourself when no one else does.

Adversity is always a blessing when it is turned into the fuel for greatness.

As someone chasing after a dream, and knowing well the truth of adversity, watching the Super Bowl last night reminded me that the victory is only as sweet as the path endured in its pursuit.

I hate playing golf.

I love watching golf.

It is funny because few things make me more emotional than watching a golf player hit a last putt on Sunday to win a massive tournament.

Every time, no matter who it is, it gets me. As the camera slowly follows behind their walk, coming up the fairway on hole 18, thousands of people surrounding the course, dozens of cameras fixed on them from every angel. From my couch, my heart rate rises as I can feel their pressure through the TV.

When the putt drops into the hole, the crowd roars, life changing money has been made, and you can see the golfers extreme pressure explode into excitement at the reality of a dream. Next his wife and kids, parents and friends, run to him on the course and they embrace. Most the time this is the moment when my slow single tears begin to appear.

As I have thought about why this happens, I have come to realize that as an artist, I can relate a lot to this imaginary.

Chasing a dream comes with pressure.

Highs and lows, adversity, people who depend on you, building a business on your name and your talent, it all comes with a weight, and one I am very grateful to be trusted with. But when I see a golfer win a tournament, knowing the sleepless nights, the endless days of training, the battle of belief, and the hundreds of losses before that win, I can’t help but feel the emotion of his victory. I felt that same thing last night watching Sam Darnold win a Super Bowl, after seven years of people telling him he wasn’t good enough to even be a starter in the league.

One of the best things about sports is the beauty of a comeback. The beauty of the person who continues to fight fully upon a belief in themselves to be great, no matter what anybody else says. It’s one of the best things about sports because it is one of the best things about life, no matter how it goes just keep fighting towards the dream, all that matters is if you believe in it.

That fires me up.

-Conner

There are so many songs we wrote during that period and definitely a few I regret leaving off the list. Here are three that I still listen to in my truck every now and then, y’all let me know which one is your favorite.

Love y’all.

-Conner

Yesterday we woke up to trees falling around us from every side, one by one. The pressure from the accumulation of ice upon the branches was heavy enough to bring hundred year old, healthy trees down to their grave. Leah and I, choosing to get snowed into a house in the country with some friends, for hours we heard the snapping of branches and the falling of giants every thirty seconds. With each crack we looked out the cold windows, trying to find which direction the sound echoed from. There was an equal beauty and fear to it all yesterday.

The power in the house went out around 7:45 in the morning, right after our first cup of coffee. As we left a few hours later to return to our house (which thankfully had power), we found massive trees that had taken out the power lines along the road, leaving no hope of power for at least a few days where we were. We were all good and safe, having a fireplace for heat and a chainsaw to clear the road to get back home, but I certainly know there are plenty of people who are without power this morning, and I pray they are safe and warm as the temperatures stay below freezing.

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I have been so grateful for the support on Man I Was Made To Be over the weekend. With every new release within this new chapter, I feel like the vision gets clearer and you guys get more fired up to help us push the songs. It genuinely means more than y’all know. This is a special song, and I have received a lot of messages from people encouraging me about the impact the message has had on them. That is the coolest part of the job. Thank y’all for helping share it this weekend!

As y’all know, I wrote this song inspired by a quote I read in the book The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller.

The quote said:

“Within this Christian vision of marriage, here’s what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of what God is creating, and to say, ‘I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to His throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!’”

Reading is one of my favorite things in the world, and on the list of goals I have as a man, becoming “well read” is toward the top.

I love reading so much because I can truly say that the person I am today is, in large part, due to the books I have read throughout my life. There is no other activity that has shaped or changed me more than soaking in the perspectives and thoughts of older, much wiser people through their writings. I owe so much to the strangers and authors who have shaped me in this way (John Eldridge, Dallas Willard, A.W. Tozer).

For example, the week after the tragedy that occurred in June, the first time I left my house was five days later, when I went to a bookstore to buy Tim Keller’s Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering. The truth and wisdom of this book truly helped me survive and grow through the pain of such a tremendous trial.

I was thinking this morning that for our Monday post, inspired by Man I Was Made to Be, I would give you guys a list of the top five books that have impacted me the most.

5. Moving Mountains – John Eldridge

I first read this book in the 8th grade, and it changed my view of God and prayer. This was the first book I read that broke my bubble of what and who I imagined God to be. I began to realize through this book that God was so much bigger and more powerful than I could ever imagine, and that the offer of relationship with Him is worth pursuing fully. John Eldridge is probably my favorite author of all time, and his books Get Your Life Back, Wild at Heart, and Walking With God are all honorable mentions this list.

4. The Pursuit of God – A.W. Tozer

I read this book my senior year of high school, and it is probably the most wisdom-dense book I have ever read. Though the book is short, it will take reading each page three times before you even begin to mine all the gold that each line holds. Tozer published this book in 1948, so the language is older, but that just makes it all the richer in my opinion.

3. Secrets of the Secret Place – Bob Sorge

If I were to recommend you start anywhere, this book is unbelievable. With short chapters, I read this book almost as a devotional in the morning after diving into the Word. If you’ve ever wanted to read a book that would help you better understand how to pray and build a relationship with God, this one truly changed my life. I read it for the first time a few years ago, and honestly think it’s one of those books I should reread every year.

2. Renovation of the Heart – Dallas Willard

Willard is one of my favorite thinkers of all time. He was both a philosophy professor at UCLA and a leading preacher and Christian author. He was able to pair the scientific philosophy of how we were made with the exact teachings of Jesus on what the path of spiritual transformation and maturity actually looks like. This book dives into what it means and how to practically “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2). This book is definitely a little heady, but if you want a more approachable take on the same ideas, John Mark Comer’s Practicing the Way is a much easier read. Comer’s book had a huge impact on me a couple of years ago, and he has said he almost didn’t write it because he feared the whole thing would just be a plagiarism of Dallas Willard’s thoughts.

1. Redeeming Love – Francine Rivers

By far the best book I’ve ever read. This is the only novel on the list, but it is historical fiction that represents the book of Hosea in the Old Testament. The entire novel is a picture of God’s love for us and our inability to allow Him to fully love us. It is unbelievably good.

There’s my book list. Have a good week. Y’all stay warm. I love y’all!

If we stay stuck in the house all week, Leah and I might have to go live on Substack at some point.

-Conner