When he's not acting, Smith is hard at work building a promising music career. I recently had the chance to talk with him about this and how working on the show Nashville impacted this new path:
You have a very ambitious plan of releasing a new song and video every month in 2019. What made you decide to do this?
It has been ambitious and a lot more work than I anticipated.
The idea stemmed from people's attention span in this day and age. I wanted each song to be new, fresh, and have a chance to get the attention it deserves - instead of having to pick one single off an album, why not treat each song like a single? Because they are. They are their own song, their own story and they deserve their own attention.
What was the inspiration behind your new single "Radio"? Was it based on your own personal experiences?
It was based off a road trip where a girl (like most people) kept singing along to all her favorite songs by all these different guys on the radio and I just thought if I wanna get this girl's attention I gotta get on the radio.
What was the concept behind the video for your song "Hard to Kiss"?
In the middle of the co-write for the song, we already had this bigger idea for a video. We just felt like this song felt so happy and should display real happiness and what better way than by showing real love from all around the world? So I put out a message on social media asking my followers to send me pics of them in love for a new video. Without knowing more than that, I received almost 1,000 pics and so many of them couldn't have been more perfect for the song and video concept. I really wanted this to be about them. I wanted to prove that despite so much anger and hate that we read about everyday, love still wins.
What is the next single you're releasing? When can we expect to hear it?
The next single "Earthquake" comes out in April!
What is LIVE at the Loft?
I'm glad you asked! I'm a huge fan of YouTube channels with LIVE music. The first one that hooked me was LIVE at Abbey Road back in the day. So I had this idea of making hybrid videos. My buddy Bjoern Kommerell, who is an amazing LA photographer, has this beautiful loft in downtown LA. I shot my first LIVE video there for "Mad Love" and realized that I should do a series of videos at the loft, each with their own look and feel within the confines of the loft.
I've secured a YouTube channel to launch a channel full of videos at the loft with a bunch of artists spanning all genres, using my videos as a template for other artists and then grow the channel. I've already had so many musician friends calling about wanting to shoot there before I even mentioned my idea. So now it's just about finding time to shoot the videos and build out the channel. I'm excited about just bringing good music to people.
Being a musician, what did it mean to you to work on the show Nashville in Music City?
That was and will always be one of my favorite experiences. Getting to do both music and act at once in such a professional environment at such a high level was a dream. I didn't even realize what I was fully getting into when I started the journey and I couldn't have ever dreamed that it would have led me to where I'm at musically.
What did being a part of the show teach you about the discipline of songwriting?
Everything. Being thrown into that environment, with the best of the best in Nashville, being mentored and taught, being accepted into the circle - literally I got to sing in the circle of the Grand Ole Opry. But literally just learning on my feet how to write and perform every day was like boot camp - the best kind of boot camp!
What do you think about the news that Nashville is set to become a Broadway musical? As an actor and musician is that something you would like to be a part of if given the chance?
I mean that had to happen right?! I'm excited for it. I think it will be a hit and I'd jump at an opportunity like that.
You were discovered at a mall by a talent scout. Did you have any aspirations of being an entertainer before that?
I was always into writing and performing. My sister brought out a video at Christmas from when I was maybe 10 and all I wanted to do in front of the camera was perform a song I had just written. That continued to doing all the musicals in high school. So yeah, it was always in me; but in the 90s in Iowa there wasn't social media to make me feel like I was one click away from a dream. So it didn't seem like reality until a woman approached me and offered me a way into the business via modeling. That was never the dream or goal but it was one step closer to what I wanted to do. And I'm glad I followed it because it didn't take long to make the jump to acting.
Your first audition and first commercial was for Wendy's. What do you remember about that audition? How old were you?
I was 19. I remember flying home to Iowa for Christmas the day after the audition and then getting a callback as soon as I landed in Iowa. My agent said, "let's just pass, it isn't worth flying all the way back to New York for the callback. You'll get lots of them in the future." But it was my first audition, my first callback and I didn't realize how crazy it was to turn around and fly all the way back to the east coast just for a callback. So I did and the persistence paid off.
What can you tell me about your new show Proven Innocent?
It's a show about a problem with our judicial system. Wrongful convictions. By pulling a lot of our stories straight from real life headlines I'm hoping the show will shed light on this issue.
- Proven Innocent airs Friday nights on Fox at 9|8c 6pm PST.
- For more on Riley Smith and his music visit his website at https://rileysmithofficial.com
*Riley Smith's Nashville episodes were taped prior to the show's move to CMT.
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