A Natural Fit

Arkansas musician finds partner, success in Nashville

On the video sharing website YouTube, one can find a clip of Shay Mooney sitting on a couch, wearing an Arkansas Razorbacks' tank top, covering the song "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes. The video was uploaded in the summer of 2012. Fast forward two and a half years -- with an emphasis on fast -- and it's easy to get a sense of how quickly Mooney's life has changed.

He and writing and vocal partner Dan Smyers last year finished a tour as an opening act for Hayes. They've also served as opening acts for Blake Shelton and The Band Perry. Already, the Nashville-based duo is on to something bigger. Dan + Shay's "Where It All Began" tour finds them as a headlining act, a status they'll maintain all year, says Mooney by phone on a rare free day in Charlotte, N.C. Mooney says he and Smyers won't spend a single day at home in Nashville this month, and the current run of dates brings them to George's Majestic Lounge on Wednesday.

FAQ

Dan + Shay:

‘Where It All Began’ Tour

WHEN — 8 p.m. Wednesday

WHERE — George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville

COST — $20

INFO — Tickets are available at the club or via stubs.net/georges

But the tour does bring Mooney closer to one of his homes -- Natural Dam, the community of about 500 north of Cedarville. Mooney grew up there, later attending high school in Fort Smith.

The small-town upbringing shaped him, and it always included music. His family listened to country music but also gospel and rhythm and blues.

"Country was a way of life," he says. "You take what you grew up listening to, and you make it your own."

Growing up, Mooney sang in church with his sisters. He performed at various county fairs and once at the Arkansas State Fair, he says. There was also his short-lived high school band -- which he can no longer remember the name of -- and various trips to Fayetteville to watch shows.

He decided to move to Nashville when he was 17, although it took him a couple years to pull off that feat. He started out as part of rapper T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment Label. But it was a house party that forged the musical partnership that comes to Fayetteville this week. He met Smyers at the fellow guitarist and vocalist's house, and the two stayed up most of the night writing songs. They joined up again the next day to write more, and within two week's time one of those tracks was reserved by country stars Rascal Flatts.

"We just liked writing together," Mooney says. "There's not a formula to writing a song. We just try to write the best song possible."

The songwriting partners penned songs for others for a while, then started performing together.

Songs they saved for themselves, such "19 You + Me," suddenly earned them recognition on their own. That single and other sugary sweet pop-country tunes found on the 2014 debut album "Where It All Began" caught radio's attention. The duo was nominated for a Country Music Association award for Vocal Duo of the Year. And they'll find out soon if they were named as the Academy of Country Music's Vocal Duo of the Year for 2015.

The award nominations are nice, Mooney says. But that validation was never needed.

"Our fans have kind of done that for us," he says.

And he already had his "we've made it" moment. When he was just a young Arkansas boy dreaming of music fame, he dreamed of a big tour bus. Now 23, he and Smyers travel in just such a vehicle. It'll be easy to find -- it'll be the only such ride parked in Natural Dam this week.

NAN What's Up on 03/06/2015

Upcoming Events