It’s all hands on stage for travelling country revue

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This article was published 24/05/2022 (1561 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dallas Smith was tired of seeing his tour bus collecting dust.

The country singer from British Columbia’s lower mainland ended his COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, rounded up a few of his friends and shifted the tour bus into gear again.

The whole group — seven acts in all — kick off the Some Things Never Change 2022 tour with two stops in Manitoba — Tuesday at Westoba Place in Brandon and Wednesday at the Canada Life Centre.

His all-Canadian travelling shindig includes established country favourites such as the James Barker Band and Meghan Patrick, along with up-and-comers Jojo Mason, Shawn Austin, Kelly Prescott and Manny Blu.

“We’ve been sitting around too long. It’s time to get back to work and bring some music back to life,” Smith says. “Its a great place to start, too. Manitoba crowds are always great live-music crowds.”

Smith’s pandemic pause hasn’t come without its rewards. His wife gave birth to a daughter, Everyn, a year-and-a-half ago and he kept his name on the charts with new songs, most recently with Hide From a Broken Heart.

It’s become Smith’s 12th No. 1 hit in Canada, according to Nielsen BDS, which measures airplays on radio and television stations, as well as on the internet — the most of any Canadian country artist.

“It rang the bell at No. 1 in country radio a couple weeks back, so I’m pretty pumped,” says Smith, who got his start as the lead singer for rock band Default. “It connected with people and we finally get to play that one live.”

The tour, which makes stops in 20 other Canadian cities after the Manitoba shows, winds up at Toronto’s Budweiser stage on June 30.

On July 2, Smith returns to Manitoba to headline evening’s lineup at Dauphin’s Countryfest.

Smith’s tour also brings many musical friends together. Patrick, Mason and Austin also have B.C. backgrounds and Smith has crossed paths with the James Barker Band many times at festivals and award shows.

“I know the JBB guys well but I’ve only seen them at the CCMAs. Every time I do a festival with them it’s on opposite days, we just miss each other, so I’m excited in seeing them every night,” Smith says.

“We’re being creative with how the show runs, sharing some time onstage with each other. We did that with the Dean Brody tour in 2019. We sang each other’s songs together and I think fans got a cool ‘will that ever happen again’ (experience).”

He was also able to perform at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium, opening for Trace Adkins on April 8. The Ryman is a former house of worship that became a musical house of worship for country fans around the world after it hosted the Grand Ole Opry radio show for more than 30 years.

Country-music history oozes from every nook and cranny of the place and to play there was a bucket-list experience for Smith and his band.

“It was something I’ll never forget. A couple guys in my band, their parents had taken them to the Ryman when they were kids, as tourists, so they were on the stage years and years ago as part of a tour,” Smith says.

“It took a minute to get settled, it really did. I’m not one who gets nervous often, but I definitely was that day. If you don’t get nervous at that kind of venue, you probably shouldn’t do what you’re doing.”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall