DREW RYDER SMITH TEAMS WITH STEVE EARLE FOR NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO “TEXTILE TOWN”
MUSIC VIDEO FILMED IN FORMER TEXTILE MILLS BRINGS TO LIFE A DEEPLY PERSONAL SONG INSPIRED BY SOUTHERN MILL-TOWN HISTORY
Nashville singer-songwriter Drew Ryder Smith teams with Steve Earle on “Textile Town,” a deeply personal new single inspired by the Southern mill communities that once sustained generations of working families, including Smith’s own. Co-written with Jason Jones and produced by Glenn A. Tabor III, the song was sparked by Smith’s drive through a once-thriving South Carolina textile town and his family history: both his grandmother and great-grandmother worked in factories. Earle shares vocal duties with Smith throughout the track, a meaningful collaboration for an artist who grew up listening to Earle’s music and was just four years old when “Copperhead Road” was released. The accompanying video, filmed at the historic Boott Cotton Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, brings the song’s themes of memory, place and working-class life to the screen alongside footage of Smith and Earle recording together in the studio. “Textile Town” arrives as Smith steps back into the spotlight after years spent building a career as a Nashville songwriter; he has opened for Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium and written songs recorded by artists including Randy Houser and John Schneider. The single offers a look at Smith’s forthcoming album, The Deep End, coming on October 28.
“I drove through this little textile town in South Carolina, and it looked like a bomb had gone off,” says Smith. “There were empty buildings, boarded-up storefronts, and hardly anybody around. But you could tell it had once been a thriving community. You could almost see the generations of people who had worked there, raised families there, and built their lives there. My grandmother and great-grandmother both worked in factories, so the story felt personal. The song isn’t really about a building or a factory. It’s about the people whose lives were tied to those places.”
Tour Dates
October 25 — Boston, MA — City Winery, Haymarket Lounge
October 29 — New York, NY — Lucinda’s
November 6 — Asheville, NC — The Grey Eagle
November 12 — Charlotte, NC — GAT3 Studio Showcase
November 16 — Knoxville, TN — WDVX Blue Plate Special
Drew Ryder Smith Links
Steve Earle Links
