Shane Smith & the Saints

A Red Dirt country band based out of Austin, Texas, Shane Smith & the Saints specialize in a freewheeling, open-hearted roots music that has its heart in the country but is unafraid of diving into rock. The group unveiled their Americana on their 2013 debut Coast, then spent the next decade working steadily, regularly releasing new albums including 2024′s Norther. A native of the east Texas county of Kaufman, Smith attended Tyler Junior College before heading to Austin to attend St. Edwards University. Once in Austin, he started to write original material and gig regularly, eventually gathering his backing band — guitarist Tim Allen, bassist Chase Satterwhite, drummer Bryan McGrath, and fiddler Bennett Brown — for the founding lineup. In 2009, the group released the independent album I’ll See for Miles, which was produced by Bob Gentry. Four years later, they released Coast, which featured cameos from Aaron Watson and Ryan Engleman. After two years of touring in the south and Midwest, the group released their self-produced sophomore album, Geronimo, in 2015. Four years would pass before the release of their third effort, which was slowly unveiled in pieces until it became the full-length Hail Mary. Issued in 2019, the album was split into four chapters (The Beginning, The Fall, The Path, and The End) and produced by Mark Needham (Imagine Dragons, the Killers). After releasing Live from the Desert in 2021, Smith & the Saints spent the next two years churning out singles: “Hummingbird” and “Fire in the Ocean” arrived in 2022, with 2023 bringing a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty,” “The Greys Between,” and “Adeline.” Save the cover, all these songs were featured on 2024′s Norther. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine