Dan Smalley has worked with some of the biggest names in modern country music and shared a stage with one of rap’s biggest icons.
He returns to the UK for two shows in June. First stop, Darlington.
Louisianna native Smalley made his first trip to the UK in March 2024 and has been building a British fanbase since.
That first week of shows, including songwriters’ rounds in Newcastle and York, saw the beginning of a mutual love affair between the Nashville-based country singer-songwriter and UK audiences.
Striking while the iron is hot, Smalley was quick to return for two further sets of shows before the year was out, including a headlining slot at Buckle & Boots Country Music Festival, near Manchester, as well as a run of shows with Randall King.
His return to these shores in June will be his second UK trip of 2025.
While many may not yet have heard of Smalley, he’s highly regarded by many in Nashville and, increasingly, across Europe. Warner Music Nashville artist King selected him for the UK shows last year, and his co-writing credentials include working with the likes of Ashley McBryde and fellow Louisiana native, Lainey Wilson.
“[Ashley and I] co-wrote Accidentally Drunk (featured on Smalley’s The State of Country Music) together, we wrote Velvet Red (a 2020 McBryde release) together, They got up on stage and played some songs at Losers while we were there, my band was there, her and Ian Munsick.
“Lainey’s doing really well, Lainey and I go way back, we’re from the same neck of the woods. We’ve written songs together.”
Likewise, co-writes have also resulted in recent recordings by Joe Nichols, and Leftover Salmon (“they’re kind of like the Grateful Dead of bluegrass”).
And Smalley’s band were even joined on stage earlier this year by none other than Snoop Dogg, who got up with them during a Nashville show.
“That was wild. That was one of those instances, you don’t forget those moments.
“We were just jamming. It’s hard to describe those moments. I looked up, and Snoop’s freestyling, while I’m playing guitar, and then I look down and Ernest is looking up at me with this big smile, and I’m just like ‘this is insane!’. It was kind of like this private moment and it was beautiful, man, beautiful – and then it was over.”
But even with such crazy moments back home, Smalley is enjoying the opportunity to travel and grow his audience outside of the States.
“I spent over 70 days outside of the US last year. That first run was up into Glasgow for Country on the Clyde and then Belfast and then Gary (Quinn) and Jeremy (McComb) and I did that run all through the UK. That was my first introduction to the UK and I fell in love with the place. I love it over there. All the smaller venues, where people just show up and listen, that’s kind of my jam, I love that feeling of sharing intimate thoughts and feelings with people who connect to it in a real way.
“I felt welcome, every place I went to, it felt very warm. Coming back for Buckle & Boots, that was just even cooler. And then I got to come back again with Randall and honestly, every single instance, everywhere I went there was just this very positive feeling about the whole thing. And that’s how I feel about the UK as a whole – not just the UK, but Europe – I enjoy it over there. I feel welcome, and that’s where I want to be – places people want me to be.”
The first UK trip of 2025 was to play the British Country Music Association Awards, in which Smalley’s “The State Of Country Music” was shortlisted for the ‘International Album” award.
Those in attendance at Darlington can expect “energy. A lot of energy, both high and low energy.”
He adds: “It’s kind of a rollercoaster, you know, which is kind of an exact replica of my life, my whole life has kind of been like this crazy rollercoaster life. In the past decade it’s kind of smoothed out to this pretty steady, reliable journey that I know is not going to fall off the rails at any time, but there for a little while it felt very unstable, and I like showing that, I like putting that in my music. I feel like people can relate to that, to the angst of it, especially young kids, and the younger you are, I feel like you definitely can hear where this guy’s coming from. A lot of those songs came out of my youth.
“And it’s a lot of up-tempo country music, a lot of songs that might make you tear up a little bit, make you think a little bit, hopefully songs you sing along with, that you know. I’m gonna play some new stuff, too, on this trip. I’m excited. I have a bunch of new material that I’m excited to try out to see what’s hitting and what’s landing. I’m just ready to make another record, and I need to figure out what that record’s going to be, because there are so many songs, it could be so many different records.”
The Darlington show will see Smalley backed by multi-award-winning British guitarist Luke Thomas, whose wedding to UK country queen Jade Helliwell saw Dan perform for the couple. The smaller set-up will allow Smalley to adapt to ensure the performance and audience inspire one another.
“That’s kinda my favourite way to roll, on stage, if I don’t have to have a set list, but we have one there as a reference, but if in the middle of the set I say ‘hey let’s play this, instead’, and we go here, because I’m feeling at that time that the room needs a different kind of shift. That’s very easy to feel.
“I’m excited. It’s a pretty intimate concert, I love connecting with people, I love connecting with crowds, I love putting myself out there in a way that shows them a real human being. We’re all just regular old Joes, I just happen to have this country-ass voice that people listen to sometimes. And I know how to put words into phrases that sound cool, sometimes, and might – I don’t know – carry a little wisdom with them, if you listen real close.
Dan Smalley plays The Forum Music Centre, in Darlington, on June 12. Tickets are available from the Forum’s website.