Civitan Club brings music festival to Burr Park on Saturday

May 17—"I try to write really accessible music people can relate to, that's drawn from real life and means something to me," said Corey Smith, who will headline Saturday's second annual Dalton Civitan Music Fest. "We approach shows in a unique way that's fun for us" and audiences.

While Smith toured with a five-piece band for years, since his return to performing after forced stoppages due to the COVID-19 pandemic "it's me, bass and drums," which takes him back to his earliest days, he said. "I like this, and there's something cool about an acoustic trio."

Smith, who has sold more than one million concert tickets and 1.5 million digital singles, lives in Jefferson with his wife and children, the town in which he was raised "singing in church and school," he said. Though several family members were musical — his father played guitar in a band — Smith didn't "pick up guitar seriously until I was 15 or 16," and even then he viewed it more as a means that "allowed me to sing."

He earned a teaching degree from the University of Georgia and taught for years, but he could never stop writing songs, he said.

"I love writing songs, it makes me happy, and it makes other people happy, too."

He launched his music career full time in 2005, and hasn't had a break since — well, except for the pandemic, which turned out to be a blessing.

"I needed the break — sometimes you don't realize you're exhausted until you're not exhausted anymore — (because) I'd been doing 120-130 dates a year for 16 years," said Smith, who has performed several times in Alpharetta, Kennesaw and Chattanooga, but not in Dalton. "I still loved it, but it felt like work."

During the pandemic-forced layoff, "I got to spend time at home with family like I never had before," and he's now "choosier" with his gigs, he said. "I love my time on stage, and I won't take it for granted again."

Smith, whose Spotify channel is currently averaging more than 1.13 million streams each month, has also become more collaborative in his songwriting, rather than doing it all by himself, and his recent output is "some of the best writing I've done," he said. "It's so human (to collaborate), such a natural thing to do, but I was terrified of it for so long."

Though fellow musicians had long reached out to him to collaborate on songwriting, he always abstained, because "I enjoyed the process on my own," said Smith, who has released 10 albums. "I was still growing up, and I used writing to work through issues, almost like self-discovery."

"I needed to get out of that selfish mindset and get out of my own head," though, as he aged, he said.

Working with younger artists has provided "fresh perspective," while he lends a life of "experiences" to those artists and their writing.

He's excited to showcase several new songs Saturday, but classic favorites like "Twenty-One" will also be on the set list.

That song "was on my first record and is still the most popular," he said. "It's the one everybody sings along to, and I love that."

Heath Patterson, who coordinates the Dalton Civitan Club's special events committee, was able to work with Smith and his team to bring him to Dalton for the first time, and "when I heard the news, I was extremely excited," said AJ Jackson, president of the Civitan Club, the oldest civic club in Dalton, chartered on July 28, 1921.

Additionally, "the talent we are bringing along with Corey Smith will be such a breath of fresh air for the community."

Sweet Leona will open the festival at 5 p.m. at the Burr Performing Arts Park in downtown Dalton, followed by Andy Giles (acoustic stage) at 6 p.m., Charlsey Etheridge at 6:30 p.m. and Craig Pratt & Jake Sane at 7:30 p.m. (acoustic stage), with Smith closing the proceedings on the main stage starting at 8 p.m.

"Sweet Leona's Carter Hayes and Tanner Cline, who reside in Nashville, are graduates" of Northwest Whitfield High School, and they'll "start the evening with their electrifying music (inspired by) soul, Americana, delta blues, folk and rock 'n' roll music," Jackson said.

"Etheridge is a Dalton native who has a diversity of music intertwined with gospel, country, blues, jazz, bluegrass and pop, (and) she has produced music in Nashville while working alongside Grammy Award-winning writers and musicians Harley Allen, Steve Wariner, Grammy-winning producer Randy Kohrs and former Allman Brothers band guitarist Jack Pearson."

"It was only appropriate we provide the community with some local artists who have moved to other cities to pursue their music careers at some point in their lives (and) to showcase their talents" in their hometowns, Jackson said. "We will have an acoustic stage composed of local artists who have played throughout the community over the years, such as Andy Giles, along with Craig Pratt and Jake Sane, so there will literally be live music playing throughout the duration of the event."

Gates open at 4 p.m. and more information — including ticket details — is available online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dalton-civitan-2nd-annual-music-festival-featuring-corey-smith-tickets-276017585027.

There will be local food vendors — Baja Coop, Cafe Ostro, Dos Bros and Trinity Barbecue — at the festival, Jackson said.

"This allows us to provide a variety of food on site while supporting some of our local restaurant owners."

"The money raised will be distributed to charities and organizations in our community, (as) everything we do is for charity," Jackson said.

The club's "mission is to build good citizenship through our organization, which is dedicated to serving individuals and community needs."

"The events that we have are always a great way to bring the people in our community together at one location, regardless of our vast differences," Jackson added. "There is no better way to kick off the summer than providing Dalton with its biggest concert at Burr Park."

More information on the Civitan Club, including how to donate, is available online at dal toncivitan.com.