Country Star Granger Smith Announces He's Leaving the Music Industry: 'I Just Want to Glorify God'
Country music star Granger Smith announced Tuesday that his summer tour would be the last for him in country music.
The “Backroad Song” artist said in a video posted to Instagram that he was leaving the industry to focus on ministry.
“This message is so difficult to post,” he wrote on the social media site. “The words for this caption are so hard to find. Not because I don’t believe in the truth of them, but because this marks the end of the longest era in my life! Touring…24 years of it.”
“This summer will be my last tour,” he explained. “I am so encouraged and hopeful and excited and joyful about the next chapter, but to a large extent, I have no idea what it will look like.
“I just want to glorify God the best way that I can. I want to learn and grow and serve my local church and allow my pastors to equip and affirm those next steps. Lord willing, I want to be used to help people find their purpose.”
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“I’m making this video, I’m making this post, to announce that this summer is my last ever tour,” Smith said in the video on Instagram.
“I have felt a strong desire to pursue ministry,” he explained, “and this doesn’t mean I’m going to start a church or a crusade or a revival. This means me and my family are going to serve our local church.”
UPI reported that Smith’s family attends a church outside Austin, Texas.
Smith also revealed that he’d been attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a religiously conservative seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Smith also has a book coming out, titled “Like a River,” in August about the death of his son, River Kelly, who drowned in 2019 at the age of 3, and how God changed Smith’s life in the aftermath of that tragedy.
His current tour, also called “Like a River,” begins Thursday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and ends in July, according to UPI.
In addition to “Backroad Song,” Smith is known for “Happens Like That” and “Country Music, Girls and Trucks” with High Valley, UPI reported.
He released his latest album, “Moonrise,” in November.
But Smith said his new book is “the most important media that I could ever release, that I ever have released.”
“That message is so important to tell,” he said.
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