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Canaan Smith Makes House Calls

"Why Not Surprise a Fan?"

Even if you've never heard of Canaan Smith, you will still love him for making house calls.

In a recent interview with Billboard, Smith talked about how he occasionally spends his downtime when he's on the road opening for some of country's biggest acts.

"Instead of sitting in a back lot waiting for your show, if you've got time on your hands after or before your soundcheck ... why not surprise a fan that lives in the area and just show them thanks for the support? It's worked really well," he said.

Smith has 36,500 followers on Twitter, so I would imagine it's not too hard to find someone looking for a front-porch private show. And I'll bet he sings "We Got Us" (his Mercury Nashville debut from 2012) and his current single, "Love You Like That."

Yes, it's been two years between songs. But that's why Smith has a reminder to stay the course tattooed right on his hands. "Hold" is on one hand. "Fast" is on the other.

He says "Hold Fast" reminds him to "keep the faith, keep going, stay the course. It was a nautical term back in the day. It meant tie down the rig because the storm's coming. But to me, it's a symbolic (reminder that) through storms and tough times, stay true and hold fast."

Smith moved from Virginia to Tennessee partly because of something he'd read about Dierks Bentley in a magazine.

"There was a feature on Dierks Bentley, and it said his favorite place to eat in Nashville was Arnold's Country Kitchen," Smith recalled. "I had never been to Nashville, let alone Arnold's, and I was like, 'Damn, that food looks good.' I just remember thinking, 'It is time. I need to go try this food and try my hand at making it in the industry.'"

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