New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Chattanooga, TN-based Americana/country singer-songwriter Rachel McIntyre Smith is set to release her new EP, Glory Daze (Acoustic), independently on April 21, 2023. A collection of four tracks, the EP re-imagines songs from her 2022 breakout release, Glory Daze, in intimate, acoustic-centric versions. Produced by Dran Michael (who also worked with Smith on Glory Daze), Glory Daze (Acoustic) showcases Smith's lyrically driven songs, providing a closer look at her soul-deep, thought-provoking lyrics, wrapped in gentle, stripped-down accompaniment. Michael and Smith play everything on the EP: acoustic guitar, mandolin, and banjo. Smith, who calls her sound "comfort twang," brings to mind the classics while also adding a relevant and fresh perspective. The Boot called her music "part Musgraves, part Phoebe Bridgers, all sincere storytelling and heartstring-pulling."
"With Glory Daze (Acoustic), I want to let folks a little closer to the heart of the project," says Smith. "Even though I love the production and everything about the original versions, these strip it down and really focus on the storytelling and lyrics. I wrote all of these songs by myself and intentionally chose every word. I kind of think about it like the original EP was a movie and the acoustic versions are like the book the movie was based on."
Smith released the first single from the acoustic EP, "Queen of Our Hometown (Acoustic)," in November 2022, and the track premiered several days prior at Amplify
Music Magazine, who wrote of the song, "All of Rachel McIntyre Smith's music sounds and feels like a classic country embrace… the acoustic take of 'Queen of Our Hometown'… peels back the musical layers that cloaked the version of the song that graced her recent EP release, 'Glory Daze,' leaving just Smith's pristine and breathtaking vocals, gently focused in a bluegrass-esque pairing of mandolin and banjo to accompany her story. It's a big hug in musical form, the kind you get from family when you go home for the holidays."
The second single from the acoustic EP, "First Love (Acoustic)," was released on February 10th and premiered earlier that week at Vents Magazine, who wrote, "Rachel McIntyre Smith is something special… clever and adroit... wise and wonderful... 'First Love (Acoustic)'... shimmers with an innocence that the folk-country take on the song sets aflight: it floats gently on the air, sharing secrets among friends in hushed tones, cradled by banjo, mandolin, and acoustic guitar." The third single, "The Woulds (Acoustic)," will be released March 24th, with Wide Open Country premiering the song a few days prior. Rounding out the tracks on Glory Daze (Acoustic) is "Miss Highfalutin (Acoustic)."
Before Glory Daze (Acoustic) could see the light of day, though, Smith put her heart and soul into its predecessor, Glory Daze. She worked with producer Dran Michael at Deadbird Studios in Chattanooga in the fall of 2020 to record the songs that would, collectively, form Glory Daze. The songs on Glory Daze (Acoustic) all resided on Glory Daze first, where they unfurled in their initial, full-band iterations. With some poignant and some hilarious lyrics, the Glory Daze EP pulled listeners into Smith's headspace as she attempted to move into the next chapter of her life. Michael's impressive production skills set the scene, with the songs bolstered by banjo, mandolin, three-part harmony, and steel guitar. The EP explored the uncertainty, nostalgia, and regret that comes along with becoming an adult and letting go of your childhood.
Smith explains, "At the start of the pandemic, I moved back in with my parents. I saw all the people I had grown up with getting married and having kids. Meanwhile, I was sleeping in the same twin bed that I had slept in for the first 18 years of my life. In that process, I felt so many different emotions. I poured them all into this six-track EP; if a quarter-life crisis was an EP, it would be this one. I started evaluating a lot of my decisions and reliving old memories. This sent me going down a spiral, and, as I fell to rock bottom, I wrote these songs."
After the first single and title track, "Glory Daze," went viral on TikTok, Smith saw her audience double in a matter of days. People compared her songwriting to the stylings of country music legends, including Dolly Parton, Brandi Carlile, and
Linda Ronstadt. Through a combination of a fan-embraced hit song and Smith's social media marketing skills, she has garnered over 600,000 impressions of the single, and the song was featured on BBC Radio, was selected for Spotify's
Fresh Finds Country Best of 2022, and was named one of the top 20 country songs of 2022 by popular country music YouTuber Grady Smith. The second single from the EP, "Miss Highfalutin," one of the very first songs Smith ever wrote and a cheeky tune poking fun at condescending people, premiered at Holler, who said the song "sounds like
Loretta Lynn for the TikTok generation." Single three, "The Woulds," premiered at Americana Highways, who called the song's style "natural, contemporary folk." "The Woulds" hit number 89 on the Americana
Radio Charts, and country music YouTuber Overshore listed the track as one of the best country songs of the year in 2022.
Press fell in love with Smith's music and stories, and her brightly colored style, smooth vocals, and small-town charm leave a lasting impact on audiences. Three Chords Country wrote that her "flair for storytelling and her killer voice set her head and shoulders above the rest." Today's Country Magazine stated, "She has absolutely been turning heads with her incredibly witty lyrics and vintage vibe," while Cowgirl Magazine shared, "We can't stop listening." ZO Magazine said that Smith had "a uniquely distinguishable sound that you know is her the moment you hit play," Americana Highways called Smith "a vocal descendent of Alison Krauss," and longtime Americana music journalist Alan Cackett declared the EP "gorgeous, organically alluring, stylish… superbly written, thoughtfully interesting… charming" on his blog. The Glory Daze EP was dubbed "simply magnificent" (Exclusive Magazine), "confident… sharp and sophisticated" (Three Chords & the Truth), "brilliant" (Skope Magazine), "honest… authentic" (Free Ramblin' Men podcast), and "an exceptional effort… marking the arrival of an assured and impressive new talent… sharing emphatic emotion with a mix of both innocence and intent" (Goldmine).
Raised in the small East Tennessee town of
Oliver Springs outside of Knoxville, Smith began intensive piano training at 9 years old. She won the Tennessee
State Piano Competition twice and earned the Paderewski Medal for Guild for 10 years of superior ratings in a row. This strong background of music theory allowed Smith to excel in other areas of music. She taught herself ukulele and guitar and also served as clarinet section leader in her school band. Although she always dreamed of being a singer, her bashfulness kept her from singing in public until she was a junior in high school. From a very young age, her mother, an English teacher, encouraged Smith to write, and she won several awards for her poetry and even won a scholarship to college for one of her short stories. As Smith progressed in music, she started combining her two passions of music and writing.
She went on to study Communications and Spanish at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. There she learned web design, graphic design, social media marketing, videography, and other skills needed in order to succeed in a world where all musicians have to double as content creators. It was there that she first heard the album Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves, which opened her eyes to the world of country music. "I felt like I suddenly understood the direction my life would take," she says. She fell in love with Musgraves's lyrical ability to turn a phrase, make jokes, and tell stories. This gave Smith a foundation to start finding her own voice in songwriting.
Upon graduating from college, she compiled 13 demos of her original music and began sending them to venues. Due to the quirky subject matter of one of the tracks, "The Kitten Song," she became a regular performer at cat cafes. "It's like playing a cozy house show with 30 or so cats," comments Smith. "It's amazing." In early 2020, she launched a concert tour of those feline-friendly venues. Smith has had the privilege to share the stage with some impressive names in country music, including Lee Roy Parnell, Larry Fleet, Paul Thorn, and Caleb Lee Hutchinson, who called Smith's debut single, "High School Reunion," "Real country music, smart wordplay, excellently written, and sung even better. 10/10." Smith plans to tour in support of Glory Daze (Acoustic), and fans should check her website and social media for updates to her show itinerary. She has already confirmed one show on April 30th at the
National Cornbread Festival in South Pittsburg, TN.
https://www.rachelmcintyresmith.com/
