Story Behind the Song: Granger Smith, ‘Backroad Song’
After releasing "Backroad Song" as a single in March of 2015 as an independent artist, Granger Smith released "Backroad Song" as the first single from his major-label debut album, Remington, in October of 2015. The feel-good tune became Smith's first No. 1 hit in February of 2016. "Backroad Song" was written by Smith and his producer, Frank Rogers, who sat down together to share the inspiration behind the chart-topping hit.
Granger Smith: "Backroad Song" was one of the first songs that I wrote for [Remington]. When Frank and I agreed to dive in together, he said, "Well, send me what you have." I think I sent him three or four … It was kind of rough, me and my guitar on a small recorder. He texted back and said, "Good stuff. There’s some good moments in all of these, but one sounds like a hit right away: "Backroad Song," I really want to jump in on."
Originally, the first line in the chorus -- [sings] "Ooh ooh ooh" -- it only happened at the beginning of the chorus, and that’s the only time it happened, at the beginning of each chorus. Frank’s like, "That’s the hook, man. That’s the catch. That’s the thing that makes the song. So let’s put it at the first of the chorus, like you had it, let’s add it at the end of the chorus, and then let’s also put it in the turnarounds and at the solo."
Frank Rogers: When he sent me the stuff from early on … that was the one that really pulled me in and got me excited about it. When we started our process, we always knew, "Okay, "Backroad Song," we’re going to do that one." Within our first trip, I don’t know if it was day one, two or three, Granger was like, "Alright, let’s do this "Backroad" thing."