Lane Smith

Country singer Lane Smith is no stranger to hard living and hard work—raised just north of San Antonio in Spring Branch, Texas, he grew up rodeoing as a bullfighter; the overlap between country music and rodeo culture is strong, and well-documented—the sport isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s stretches away from home, from loved ones, with long, dirty hours and no guarantee of a payoff not that different than playing shows on the road or that far removed from the idea of embarking on an independent career in country music that you plan to build from the ground up. But that’s exactly what Smith has done.