Canaan Smith’s ‘Chickahominy’ Looks Back Toward Home 

There are lots of waterways in the area where Canaan Smith grew up, but one in particular stands out in many of his memories. The Chickahominy River was where he first went fishing as a kid, and as he got older, he and his friends would gather along its banks for other kinds of activities. 

"It was where the wild kids hung out," he says, "and when somebody got caught doing something they shouldn't be doing, it was usually at the Chickahominy." 

So, for this country singer-songwriter, that river with the Choctaw name in southeastern Virginia represents a pivotal period in his life. That makes it a fitting title to his new album because Canaan Smith is at an age where he's looking back gratefully on the things that made him who he is. He offers a few details in the title track, in which he vows to return someday to a place that's truly special to him.  

"The freedom that that river made me feel is why I wrote that song," says Smith. "As I'm coming back around to my roots and trying to dive deeper as a songwriter, I'm trying to pull from my own experiences more, and the Chickahominy River is like a bullet point in my life." 

Something else he looks back on with appreciation is that his childhood neighborhood was bordered by a wooded area thick with trees. That's where you'd find him during most of the daylight hours and sometimes well past sundown.  

"We'd spend all day there, building forts and doings things like exploring rundown shacks with old glass bottles in them and going through the woods and finding lots of cool stuff," Smith remembers. "We'd play a lot of flashlight tag, too, because even at night, we'd want to be outside. That was our favorite place to be, and back then, your parents didn't have to worry so much. Now it's so different." 

Canaan Smith is best known to many for the 2014 smash country hit "Love You Like That." He's also written songs for artists such as Jason Aldean ("Black Tears"), Cody Johnson ("Work Boots"), and Tyler Hubbard ("Park"). 

As a songwriter, Smith says, he's come to realize the value of being true to his own life rather than chasing a hit song or following a popular trend. He says that was his guiding light when crafting his new album. 

"I don't want to reach for something if it doesn't feel authentic," he says. "It's not rewarding that way, and people see through it. Nobody wins in that scenario." 

At age 42, he describes a comfortable career pace that he and his wife, Christy, both worked hard to achieve. She was a full-time nurse practitioner for many years while he toured relentlessly to build a following. He's had enough success that, he says, they've both been able to cut back on their work to dedicate more family time to their two young children. Their daughter, Virginia, is 6, and her little brother, Ramsey, is 3. 

"It's a really good balance now, and I'm no longer a slave to the road. I can still go play shows and make a living from it, but I'm gone for usually 36 hours at a time, to just go play the show and come home." 

They love going camping as a family, he says, and Smith also enjoys taking off for backpacking trips out west or joining in on turkey hunts not too far from their home in Nashville.  

He's still a newbie as a turkey hunter, but he'd been drawn to it for years since hearing his former producer, Brett Beavers, talk about it during studio sessions. Smith got his own chance to take part two years ago, when the National Wild Turkey Federation invited him on a hunt they filmed for their online series called "Gobblers and Guitars." He says he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to learn from people with such expertise. 

"It was a three-day trip in Florida, and I loved everything about it and was immediately hooked," he says. "I thought this was something I could see myself doing a lot in the future." 

He's been twice more, in middle Tennessee, but has yet to bag his first bird. 

"I would love to be able to go a few times every season," Smith says. "I haven't had a good angle on a shot yet, but I love the thrill of it. I like that it's not easy. It's challenging, and a lot has to go your way." 

As for his favorite outdoor pastime, he loves the self-sufficiency that's required to hike into a forest for up to a week with everything you need carefully placed inside a backpack. 

"The Pacific Northwest is my favorite place to backpack because the scenery's insane and the parks are so huge and you can be so immersed and be so far out there," Canaan Smith says. "I love the simplicity of it, and I love sleeping on the ground in the great outdoors under the trees. Nothing beats it. I feel like that kid in the woods again."