This Surprising Concert Made Dan Smyers of Dan + Shay Leave Early

Dan + Shay have just announced they'll drop their new single "Save Me The Trouble" this Friday, July 14 at midnight, and to celebrate, I wanted to share a personal story I have about the first time I met Dan Smyers, and the concert that he left early.

First, it's worth noting, the rumors are true! Dan + Shay are two of the kindest guys in Country music. Ask anyone that has met them or worked with them, and they will tell you how genuine this duo is. One thing to know about Dan is that he will always reach out and text you with a kind word or a happy birthday. He nurtures the relationships he's made and makes time for everyone.

So last year, I had the pleasure of seeing them perform in Nashville. And afterward, everyone in the room was mingling for a while, taking pictures and catching up. Dan came over and mentioned that he was going to a concert that night for the band Slipknot. If you don't know the band, they are heavy metal - not what you may typically expect a country artist to be a fan of.

The next day, as Dan is known to do, he messaged me saying he appreciated me seeing them in Nashville. When I asked how the Slipknot concert went, he answered in all honesty "It was so loud I only stayed for 45 minutes!"

It's those little interactions that mean so much to me. Like you, I'm a fan of these artists and their music. But when they show their human side, it makes the whole experience that much better. I'm so proud of Dan + Shay and can't wait for this next chapter of music and their next concert! To help celebrate the release of "Save Me The Trouble", WKML will have a World Premiere Weekend, where you can catch the new single all weekend long!

Brett Young has scored six number-one country songs since he came on the Nashville music scene in 2016 with his debut single, "Sleep Without You." Brett is a native of Orange County, California, and was a college baseball player who suffered an injury and took up songwriting as a result.

Young independently released a self-titled four-song EP in 2007, followed by a couple more albums from his Los Angeles base. When he moved to Nashville after eight years of pursuing music in L.A., he was signed by the Big Machine Label Group in 2015 and released his debut single in 2016.

In his personal life, Brett married his longtime girlfriend, Taylor Mills, in 2018, and the couple has two daughters together, one born in 2019 (Presley) and the other born in 2021 (Rowan).

As we take a look at his country music career, we count down what we believe is Young's best songs to date.

This heartbreak song's music video was filmed over two days in Encino, Los Angeles, and at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. The video was intended to be dream-like, with alternating shots of a couple in love and walking alone in a desert.

Brett said of this love song he co-wrote with Lady A's Charles Kelley, "It's about those moments in your life that are so good, and you're so present in them that you are able, while you're in them, to realize how good they are... Anybody who is lucky enough to have had moments like that will hear the song and go there immediately."

This uptempo song brings Young back to his baseball days. The video for the song was filmed at Swayze Field at the University of Mississippi, Brett's alma mater. The footage is semi-autobiographical of his career path in that it follows his dream of pitching for a Major League Baseball team, which is dashed when he suffers a career-ending injury and falls in love with his college sweetheart.

This is the that song started it all for Brett. His debut single was released in April of 2016 as the last single from his debut album for Big Machine.

During a songwriting session, Young wrote the song with Ashley Gorley, Jon Nite, and Jimmy Robbins. The four wanted to write a song about a breakup but found it difficult as all four of them were in relationships. However, at the songwriting session, Brett recalled that before marrying his wife, Taylor, he had previously broken up with her. Taylor, also appears in the song's music video.

Another heart-pounding breakup song, this music video was filmed in Los Angeles. It features Brett singing in a home with windows overlooking the L.A. area.

This infectious love song was written in 2016 during a working trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Young co-wrote the song with Tyler Reeve, Kyle Schlienger, and Trent Tomlinson at the retreat. The inspiration for the song came from a story told by one of his co-writes about his wife. The song's video has been viewed a whopping 628 million times.

Brett said of this sweet song, "'Lady' is maybe one of the most special songs I've ever written. I knew from the moment that my wife and I even started discussing having children that I was gonna want to write songs for my kid. I thought for sure it would after they were born and I got to know them a little bit—something would inspire me".