Last week, a few days before Hurricane Irma turned the skies gray and wet, I drove down to Ringgold to watch Scott and Todd Smith shoot a video for their latest single, "Superman for a Day."
They shot the video on the family's nearly 50-acre farm under a gorgeous blue sky. It was a perfect day and a perfect setting for the shoot.
Scott said he wrote "Superman for a Day" while watching a NASCAR race.
"It took about 35 minutes," he said.
"It's about being a kid when you could use your imagination and be whatever you wanted to be, and having no worries."
Barry CourterWhen I arrived, the brothers had just shot a scene in the farm's big red barn and later shot one of a young brother and sister climbing a fence and running through the tall grass as if they didn't have a care in the world.
"We grew up on this farm, running all over the place," Todd said. "That's what this song is about. That innocence."
The brothers used to perform with the Brody Johnson Band. Brody Johnson was Scott's alter ego, he said. When they were asked to open for Alan Jackson at Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's inauguration, it marked the last time their father, Wesley Smith, got to see them play. They decided to honor him by changing the band's name.
"He was a huge supporter of us," Scott said. "He told us 'Y'all go do it. You sound as good as anything else I'm hearing.' "
This is the second video for the duo, who were proud to share that the video for "Little Things" had been viewed 1.2 million times on their Facebook page. Like "Superman," it was shot in the North Georgia area with Flick Wiltshire of Vintage Flick Production.
The brothers have been busy lately visiting radio stations in markets around the country. Todd said being an independent country artist has some advantages, but it means doing a lot of the work yourself.
"We are in 38 states and 200 stations in a bunch of the secondary markets in the last several months. We have an advantage over some of the other independent artists because we've done this and had some success. The radio people know us, and our songs do very well."
Their debut single, "Need Somebody Bad," made it onto the Billboard Indicator chart and the Music Row Breakout chart. "Sweet Life" and "You're the One" also did well, and the guys hit the road opening for Jackson, Old Dominion and Florida Georgia Line.
"Superman for a Day" and "Little Things" will be on the duo's new record, "For Better or for Worse," due out in coming weeks.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.