In 2009, Uncle Kracker's song "Smile" landed on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was his first time on the chart as his solo artist, but his second time overall: Back in 2004, Uncle Kracker's collaboration with Kenny Chesney, "When the Sun Goes Down," was a five-week No. 1.

"Smile" became a multi-format hit: It peaked at No. 6 on the country charts, but also at No. 2 on the Adult Top 40 chart, No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 30 on the Mainstream Top 40. Below, Uncle Kracker shares the story behind the song, which he co-wrote with Blair Daly, JT Harding and Jeremy Bose.

Two of my best buddies are Blair Daily and JT Harding. We went up to my cottage in Michigan to write songs.

We kept writing similar types of songs, and we wanted to do something different. I was like, "Man, we need a piano player in here!"

Blair was like, "I've got this piano track from Jeremy Bose." I've never met the guy personally, but thought it was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard before. It was just awesome! It was a great piano track.

The three of us decided to write something positive to go along with the piano track, because it was so different and refreshing.

We started talking about how music used to be so different: Everybody patted each other on the back and told the other person they were doing a good job. We wanted to write this positive song that basically tells somebody you know how much they are appreciated in your life -- that they make you smile.

Nothing about this song was forced. It came so natural for us to write. The song was probably done in an hour and 40 minutes.

This story was originally written by Alanna Conaway, and revised by Angela Stefano.

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