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March 10, 2025 47 mins

In this episode of The Granger Smith Podcast, Granger sits down with country artist Canaan Smith, diving deep into faith, career struggles, and personal transformation.

Canaan opens up about the highs and lows of his music journey—from the pressures of chasing radio success to the moments that forced him to step back and realign his purpose. He shares how fatherhood, faith, and unexpected setbacks led him to a newfound contentment in life and music. The conversation explores themes of identity, purpose, and trusting God’s plan, even when the path is unclear. 

Whether you're an artist, a believer, or just someone seeking inspiration, this episode delivers raw honesty, powerful reflections, and a reminder that success isn’t measured by hits—it's found in knowing who you are in Christ.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, fire away, dude. I want to. I want to
get a deeper as we can. I mean, a lot
of life has happened since we crossed past the last Yeah,
and I feel like we're very aligned in our goals. Yeah,
our go forward goals are very much aligned. So yeah's everything,
It's all. I was free open season.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I was talking to Amber last night and I said,
I said, when's the first time I met Canaan and
and I think I think it was you and Christy
were at an award show and we were like sitting
either next to each other or close to each other.
Is that right?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, dude, totally right. I'm trying to remember which one
it was.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
It would be.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
It wasn't the CMTS. It might have been like the
the CMA's here in town. And then I remember, you're right,
we did.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Another time early on this is this is kind of embarrassing,
but we were and it's kind of a vague memory.
We were somewhere, I think West Coast. We were on
tour and it was one of those days were just
bands are in and out, in and out, in and out,
and for some reason, I was just in a bad mood.
It was like a poorly run festival, really hot, and

(01:11):
I remember seeing you and you were like coming off
the stage and you're really mad.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
And then I.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Like, you like threw a drumk you like threw a
tomb or something a drum And I remember feeling so good.
I was like, oh good, somebody else has got the
same movie, dude.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
How many of those shows have we played where it
was just a total, you know, train wreck?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
You know those thrown goes situations can be so so
frustrating man, And no, that doesn't surprise me. I will say,
I look back at there are definite moments in my
career where I look back and I'm like, I was
as much as as much fun as I had in
some of those peak moments, like when I had a

(01:58):
hit on the radio and I was out there in
front of big, big crowds. All the rush of that
was exciting and fun. But when I look back on it, like,
the character that I'm looking at, the person that I'm
looking at from this side, is so different than who
I am now like, And I think that what you
just said that story is a perfect example of I

(02:20):
was missing it. I was I was just kind of
missing it, missing the point of it all, you know
what I mean. I just wanted everything to be perfect
and for what for me to make a bigger name
for myself so that everyone thought I had my stuff together,
you know, Like, I don't know, man, that's just as
a reminder to me. It's funny because I'm thankful now
I can laugh at that and I'm not mad at

(02:43):
myself anymore. But I went through a season of life
where I was like, really just discouraged at how I
was kind of handling my business and handling myself.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
You know, yes, I do. I know, man, I lived it,
and I saw it in you and you probably saw
it in me. But that's the rat race that we
were living, you know, that was the hamster wheel we
were on. And if you think about like what the
things we saw and how the beautiful people in the

(03:13):
incredible country, and it's like we weren't really even enjoying
any of that at some level truly.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
I know, dude, as much as I saw, I feel
like it's all a blur.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
It's all a blur, you know. Yeah, So what was
the shift for you? How are you? How are you
sitting here now with a new perspective?

Speaker 1 (03:34):
Kids? Oh? Yeah, you know, we had kids, and that
literally changed the game for me. Plus I walked away
well as let me rewind a little bit. I got
to the point where I was so lost as an artist.
After we had Lovey like that it was a hit,
and then we followed it up with a song called
Hole in a Bottle and it was like twenty three

(03:57):
and it was just chugging along, you know, running out
of gas. It felt like it wasn't going to make
it all the way and I was frustrated that, you know,
we couldn't do two in a row. Yeah, and I
wanted that momentum. And I was looking left and right
at everyone else and what they had going, and I
was like, why is my you know, why is this
not happening? Meanwhile, you got you know, a bunch of

(04:18):
people in your ear, you know about you know help.
You know, decision making wasn't just from my gut or
my prayer, you know, time with God. It was a
bunch of advice from more than just me. You know
a lot of people, a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
And I felt lost in that process and I got lost.
So I actually walked away from it as far as

(04:40):
like the record deal situation. I had a talk with
the CEO of the record label, Mike Dungan, who was
an awesome dude, and we hit it off really good.
But I just went into him and I told him
how I felt, and I just laid it all out there.
I was like, I don't even know what I want
to do anymore. To be honest with you, man, I
don't know what I have to say as an artist.

(05:02):
I'm completely I need to go find myself. Can you
let me out of this deal? He was he understood,
he's a he's an artist first, kind of label execut
in the first place. So like that was to my
advantage that he understood where I was coming from and
he and he supported that, you know, me going to
find myself again. So I walked away from it and

(05:23):
I shelved a really good situation because I was being
impatient and ungrateful. I lost sight. You know, that was
a recipe for like, okay, well now what you know,
Like now I'm totally yeah, rude here, I've got no team,

(05:43):
I got no go forward songs. I don't know what
I want to have to say or who's going to
help me say it. So that was a time of
just shit like kind of reflecting, and.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
So what years this happening. This is twenty eighteen, twenty eighteen, yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's probably the same year I saw you at that festival.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Probably was, dude, Probably was. And I took a minute
and I was hanging out with Tyler Hubbard. He was
a good friend of mine, and we were working out
and he started telling me that he was about to
start a new venture, a publishing venture and maybe a

(06:29):
record label at the same time. And I was like, oh,
that's interesting, that could be cool. And so honestly, that
just kind of like came about through it just sort
of just coming to the table naturally, through us hanging
out in conversations about what he wanted to do next
in his career, the kind of the team and structure

(06:50):
he wanted to build. And I ended up fitting into
that equation. And so I signed a record deal with
him and b K under the name Your Records, and
a publishing deal as well. And so this was twenty nineteen,
and at this time, Granger, I was like not even sure.

(07:12):
I mean, I like I told you, I was lost
as an artist, So I didn't know what I was
going to do next in that regard, But I still
loved writing songs, and so I focused a little bit
more on that than I had been in the past.
I wanted to kind of double down as a songwriter
and go hard in the pain on that front, and
so I did that whole right, you know, four times, yeah,

(07:35):
sometimes five times a week. And I did that for
about two years and not really even thinking about what's
next for me as an artist. And that was a
transitional phase where it was a little bit tough at first,
because you know, you go at one speed and you're
you know, you're kind of just coasting for a minute,
and then everything it felt like the rug was pulled

(08:00):
out a little bit and I had to had to
down shift and go back to square one and kind
of find my bearings again. And what was beautiful about
the partnership there with Tyler and BK was it I'd
known those guys for enough time that they knew I
was lost, you know, and they were able to kind
of like speak in to me and help me get

(08:21):
back on track a little bit. So it was a
transitional season. And then meanwhile, my wife gets pregnant, and
this is you know, going on in the background too.
All the same time, and our daughter, Virginia was born
on Halloween of twenty nineteen, so shortly after I started
working with those guys, we had our first child. And

(08:45):
I was starting at that point to be like, Okay,
you know, I feel like I've got some new direction
as far as where I want to go next musically,
and I started to put a little tour together for
the January JA. I think we're going to do some
late Jamesnuary dates in twenty twenty. So two weekends into
this club tour thing, COVID hit and then that couldn't

(09:11):
be on the road anymore. And so it was another
bit of a rug pulled out from under me. And
I'm starting to see a theme here actually, as we're
talking that God has intervened multiple times on my path
in the form of pulling the rug out, and not
as I don't say that as a victim. I say

(09:33):
that with gratitude, honestly, because I've never been happier than
I am.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Now, well, let me say right there that there's an
interview that you did, and there's a quote that you
have that says, around the same time you're talking about
you said, I feel like I had come home and
God knew it. My perspective needed shifting.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yeah it did, dude, it really did. I didn't know it,
but he did. And sometimes he you know, in the
Bible he talks through a donkey at one point, is
it Byalem as a donkey?

Speaker 2 (10:08):
He does a bush too, and a bush and a witch. Yeah. Yeah,
wow crazy.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
So I felt like you know, I have, I have
felt redirected. And then to speed up the story a
little bit, COVID hit came off the road for a
good long season. Got to spend real quality time at home. Yeah,
for the first time, you know, really, because Christy and
I got married and I went on radio tour literally

(10:40):
a week after we got married in twenty fourteen, so
you know with that site.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Anyhow, then being home and having a new being, a
new dad, all of that at the same time was
exactly what my heart needed and exactly where what my
faith needed because all the tearing that happens, you know,
even as a I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you, bro,
I have moments every single day where I fall apart.
So and yeah, I know you know what I'm talking. Yeah,

(11:10):
I'm I yell at the kids, and I hate myself
for it, but I'll get so short with them because
I've got other things I need to get done. The
chaos is keeping me from getting done. But all of
that's so good for me, for a guy like me,
It's like and God's just like being so gracious to
me along this path of you know, me having to

(11:34):
this this great awakening that's happened and is happening still
for me. And I don't know what what the point
is other than on a on a you know, on
the level of being dad and being Christie's husband, like
on that level the things that matter most. I'm being
tweaked in all the right ways. I think God's tightening

(11:56):
what needs tightened and tearing off what needs tear tearing
and and and as a result of that, I'm also
feeling more fulfilled creatively. I'm getting to open myself up
and what I bring to the table now comes comes
from you know, a different side perspective that is on

(12:19):
the other side of not maturity, but sort of. I mean,
I guess, right, So that was the shift, really, man,
that was a many It took a few steps, right,
and even the record deal I ended up signing with
with the with the boys that got canned when they

(12:39):
called it quits as a duo, they closed up shop
on the record deal. And that was another like rug
pulled moment that I needed to get me to hear
for this album that I was put out even to
have happened, you know, it wouldn't have happened had I,
you know. And I was actually halfway down the road
cutting the second album with them for in some the

(13:00):
same songs that are on this album, we're already underway,
but we re recorded them obviously.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
And this is independent. This record's independent, totally independent. Yeah,
how did you? How'd you fund it? I mean it
sounds it sounds expensive.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
I'm so proud of It is expensive to record music,
as you know, but it was a partnership with I got.
I got fifteen thousand dollars. Actually I got a twenty
thousand dollars check from a camper company. I use we
have a camper trailer.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
I saw that on your Instagram. It looks awesome. I
want to talk to you about that thing because that, Yeah,
for sure, that looks like goody.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
It's called Modern Buggy. That's the brand, and they have
all kinds of different models. And sizes and things, but
the one we had fits in my garage. It's super
easy to just hook up and go. But I had
bought one from from the guy who owns the company.
We crossed paths somehow. He was host in like a

(14:01):
songwriter night in Michigan, and I got asked to do
it and we hit it off, and he ended up
telling me, you know, he had these cool buggies, and
I was like, oh, sweet, I might want to get one.
I ended up getting one. He gave me a great
deal on it, and then you know, I made some
posts about it because I really love it, and we
used a lot, and he just decided, you know, let's

(14:23):
let's try to collaborate on that front, and you know,
let's help each other out. You advertise the buggy, and
I'll give you some money to do that. So he
gave me twenty thousand dollars last year. Yeah, in April
of last year, and three two weeks later, we were
in the studio recording the album. With that money. It's

(14:43):
I spent fifteen thousand dollars for the entire project at
the recording of the project, and I spent the other
five thousand on a videographer to help with some assets
for socials. So all in it was twenty thousand dollars
to get it to where it is now.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
And that's for people listening. That's still very difficult to
be within twenty.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
That's dirt cheap.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
That is dirty crazy. I mean a normal record where
you say one hundred thousand, like a normal normal record
with the record label just to record it.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
And paying a producer fee and all that other stuff
that Anthony Olympia, who produced my record, decided he didn't
need a producer fee. We just did a split the
master situation, and I'm so grateful for that. So you
can get creative these days, you know, and get a
piecemeal a record together the way that you have, you know,
the way that you can afford. And that's what we did.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
There are people that will charge twenty five hundred dollars
just to mix a song, and you you have eleven
songs on this record. That's to put it in that
in perspective.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yeah, exactly, So I've got I mean, this is the
this is the result of very kind, very talented humans
who gave their incredible gifts to this project for a very.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Insanely low price. You know. I don't know that I
could replicate it again necessarily because they're worth a lot
more than that. But yeah, I'm really proud of of
where we came in.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, you should be, man, I mean, sonically, the thing
is solid. I've gotten to listen to it several times now, probably,
like if I was going to decide a favorite, probably
every day, Joe, I think, I think I'm going there,
or pay It Forward or in Time with You. Probably

(16:41):
I love so eleven songs, did you know? Let me
ask you this could there's no way you could know
this answer, but let me just me ask you anyway,
eleven songs. How many of the eleven do you think
have some kind of faith element in the song itself,
in the lyrics? I know the answer. I'm just asking

(17:04):
probably half of them.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
I don't know. I'd say a majority of them.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Ten ten songs have and I wow, yeah, I didn't
know that. The only one is in Time with You
is the only one that does it, and that's you know,
it's a love song. But every other one, and I'm counting,
I'm counting if it the word angel, the word prayer,
the word preacher. You know, I'm adding I'm make so

(17:29):
your record is you're definitely thinking through things and there's
something inside of you that that speaks in your songwriting,
in your performing, whether you even know it or not.
I think it's just that's the foundation you're on. You
you come from this foundation. So it's I guess I

(17:50):
should say it's like impossible for you to write an
album and not your faith not be prevalent in it.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Praise God for that, dude. Honestly, there's you know, we're
set apart as believers, That's what That's what the word
teaches us, that we're set apart, right, and then we're
called out out of the world, We're called out of
darkness and delight.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
That's the what the word holy means. Holy means set apart,
which is which is God's overarching attribute is his holiness.
It's often forgotten because people go, well, God, his greatest
attribute is love, No, not necessarily love is a is
an outpouring of his holiness. He's loving because he's holy.

(18:36):
Set apart, He's we are not like him. He is.
He is set apart from the universe, and so we're
made in his image, but almost like a shadow is
in the image of me or you, the shadow is
made in our image, but it is not like us.
It mimics, it mimics our appearance, or like a like
the George Washington or nutsbetic like the uh, the Abraham

(18:58):
Lincoln Memorial in Washington in DC mimics his appearance of Lincoln,
but it's not like him. He is holy, and so
the Bible says we should be holly too. And now
word is like, uh, it's almost looked down upon, like
we can't achieve it, or like the word saint for instance,
that that word is holy one. That's what the word

(19:20):
saint means.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
You know, in country music we think a lot of
times was like you're like, I'm not a saint like
my wife. Well, we're called to be saints. In fact,
we're referred to as Christians as saints, meaning to your
point set.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Apart, that's wild, dude.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
You know, at some point in our lives, things got
a lot easier at gee dot com and grangerspent dot
com when me and my two brothers switched over to
Shopify and let them handle the checkout portion of our website.
I know that kind of sounds complicated, but if you're
wanting to start a business or start some kind of
e commerce marketing company, you need to think about Shopify
to handle all your checkout needs like so many thous

(20:00):
thousands of other companies have done across the world. They
handle credit card sales and all other online digital sales
and help you concentrate on your creativity so you could
concentrate on your product and how the website itself looks.
And they deal with the nitty gritty details of the
checkout process. So upgrade your business and get the same
checkout as we use with Shopify. Sign up for your

(20:21):
one dollar per month trial period at shopify dot com
slash granger all lowercase. Go to shopify dot com slash
granger to upgrade your selling today. Shopify dot com slash granger.
As a reminder, you could always get a hold of
me on cameo dot com slash granger Smith. It's a
great way to get a message a video message from

(20:43):
me from anywhere in the world to whoever you want
to send it to. You go to cameo dot com
slash granger Smith and you fill out whatever you want
me to say, Happy anniversary, happy birthday. May be a
ward of encouragement to someone that needs to hear it,
and that person may be you, and then I'll send
you a video message. It's super easy and it's a

(21:03):
good gift. I've been doing this for many years now.
It's a good gift to someone that is impossible to
buy for and you don't know what to get them.
Once again, go to cameo dot com slash granger Smith.
I got to tell you all about this and have
you heard about Yegefest. It's happening this year May ninth
and tenth in Georgetown, Texas at the EEE Farm, So
you can come hang out with us. Me, my brothers,

(21:24):
my family will all be there. We've got a truck
show happening. We've got a mud bog competition, kind of
like we did last year, but the new edition this
year is a concert by me and my band and
my old crew. This is not a tour, This is
not me getting back into music. This is one time
every year we hope to do a concert for my
friends and family, especially Maverick who's never seen me play

(21:44):
live before. So come out have a meal with me
and my family. On Friday night. I'm gonna give a
little devotional from the Bible, maybe play an acoustic song
or two. This is really a once in a lifetime experience,
and if you want to find out more, go to
eeye dot com.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
There's a part of me that can't run, and there's
I think once you're and I can talk about my brothers,
my older brothers, because they've they've had a journey with
their faith. They've had they've had ups and downs, They've
lived a hard life. We all dealt with loss, you
know when we were kids, and they took it really hard.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
And did you not?

Speaker 1 (22:26):
I did?

Speaker 2 (22:27):
Uh? You were younger? Is that what you're trying to say?

Speaker 1 (22:30):
I was. I was eleven and they were fifteen, you know,
so there was a difference there. But also there's like
a there's like a foundation, and back to that foundation
right there, I can look back at our the way
I was raised, uh speak, you know, uh spiritually speaking,

(22:55):
and point out a bunch of things that nowadays I
was like, man, I was misguided, or gosh that was
controlling or this, you know, and point to a lot
of things that were not great and and damaging honestly
in some of the upbringing, the faith practices and the
church as a whole, at different times, but I was.

(23:17):
I was the foundation. You can't replace the value that
that that that now has in my adult life. And
I'm so grateful for it. Even though it wasn't perfect,
Like the people who are trying to lead me and
my parents who you know brought me up this way
were doing their best through all the imperfections that foundation

(23:38):
for it to stand still, they did something right. And
the faith is the faith has been tested and proven
to be authentic over time. And what you're saying by
the fact that there's I don't even know it and
it's coming out, that's just proof that that foundation was
real and that what what I believe and what I've

(24:00):
proclaimed to believe from a from the age of a
child till now like has been proven authentic because I
wouldn't talk about it otherwise it wouldn't come out in
my It wouldn't come from my heart if it wasn't
in there, you know. So my brothers, I want them
to get to that point where they can celebrate the

(24:23):
imperfections from the past and there in that spiritual upbringing,
because they're more damaged by it than it's almost they
haven't gotten to that point where they were able to
to to accept the imperfections for what they were and
and and still be left with at the end what

(24:45):
they're holding their hands, a true, honest faith that comes
from the heart. So that's kind of like, I don't
even know what got me talking about them.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Do you know? Do you know the can you trace
back the root of your brothers? You lost your brother
when he was sixteen, you were eleven, right, car accident? Right,
tell me walk me through the community in the church.
And also you know what went wrong? What did the

(25:16):
church do wrong that now your brothers are where they
are now?

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Great questions. The community was very much supportive through all
of it. We had a lot of close friends. We
had people who who cared deeply for us. That was
never a question. We never felt alone in that regard, right,

(25:45):
I didn't feel like I was going through through loss alone,
which it was a huge blessing.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yes, the I think I.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Think honestly, man, like you know, probably you've had is
that you can relate to, or or that you've been
through on your own. In regards to sometimes there's misguided
or there's there's a misuse of power sometimes and in

(26:17):
any organization and a church isn't you know, in Layman's terms,
is an organization to a degree, right.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
So exacted by humans. Yeah yeah, yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
I think that there were just some say one thing,
but behind closed doors do another kind of like examples
that made them think that it was kind of a joke,
you know, or that this person's not you know, they're
not living the walk that they're talking. You know.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
So what kind of church was it?

Speaker 1 (26:49):
You know, it was a non denominational you know, spirit
filled you know, we spoke in tongues and we were
rolling on the ground, banners up and down the aisles.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Man, you know that's not non denominational.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Oh yeah, it's a Pentecostal.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Yeah. See what happens is churches that non denominational churches
are either Baptist or Assembly of God. But they and
you'll know by well how are they, how are they baptizing,
and how are they receiving the Holy Spirit? You know,
you could tell quickly, oh, I see this is actually

(27:31):
an Assembly of God church, or I see this is
actually they just took the name off the sign.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, totally. It definitely had Assembly of God roots because
we would I mean, look, I'm not throwing you don't
throw the baby out with the bathwater. They'll say, No,
I won't. I won't do that either with my upbringing. No,
I believe in I believe in the feeling of the
Holy Spirit the moment you profess your faith, at the

(27:59):
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And I believe in the
gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
But I think that the the.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Intentional or not. Once you mix humanity with the Holy Spirit,
there can be there can be some ugly misguided stuff,
and you can start chasing after the gifts of the
Spirit more than you're chasing after pleasing God in your

(28:27):
real life. And so that's where the damage was the most,
Like this holy roller kind of like speak but really
that couldn't you know, being far from that and their
actual how they're treating people, their outlook of you know,
the world, and and and and so it was just,
you know, it just didn't add up.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
So are you saying, are you saying that you know this,
this huge tragedy happens in your family and that the
church as loving and supportive as they were. There's also
this element of well, seek him harder, you know, seek
God harder. You guys, you know you're missing the Holy
Spirit needs to pour himself out on you, so work

(29:10):
harder to seek him. That's kind of what you're saying,
go bingo. And so your brother your brothers end up
just saying I don't want to work hard anymore. Nothing's happening.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent, dude. Yeah, that's I've never
seen it that that uh, that profoundly simple. But I
think that you're right. I think that there was a
sense of like, you can if you pray hard enough
or consistently enough, you can get you can feel a deeper,
you can get closer, you can have a more uh

(29:44):
you know, a bigger Holy Spirit encounter, you know, and
or or you can this person will be healed from cancer,
damn it if you pray hard.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
Enough, you know. Yeah, And sometimes sometimes you just need
them to say.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
I'm so sorry. Man.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Let me just sit with you. Yeah, I'm so sorry.
We don't have to say anything. It's not always about
let's work harder and you're going to be healed, you know.
Jesus Jesus didn't do that. Sometimes Jesus would just sit
and listen or ask questions, and really good questions. True,
how are your brothers today.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
They're you know, they're amazing people like they have. They
have a lot of gifts as far as what they
could what they offer in a room. They can light
up a room. They can really connect with people and
make people feel like they're listening. You know that they care,
you know, And those are qualities that I think are

(30:42):
super admirable about them both. But there's a there's a
fuse that's very short, and there's and I think it's
a lot of because I think it's a I think
it's the fuse is made out of bitterness and some
anger and some hatred, and that when it gets lit,

(31:04):
you know, it's not fun to watch, like just uh,
it's just I feel like they're they're not happy, you know.
I think I think they're not. I don't think they
love themselves. I think they have a hard time believe
in Jesus still loves them.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Does two those two things work backwards. That what you
just said, When you realize Jesus loves you, then you
could truly know yourself. Then you could truly you could
truly rest in who you are because he has your identity,
not you.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
And how how like, how how how simple and and
how powerful is that Jesus loves you, like like it
looks like a bumper sticker or it feels like a
preschool uh song. But it's not any more difficult. It's

(32:03):
not supposed to be any more difficult than that statement.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Yeah, Jesus was God.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
So loved the world, you know, And that's really the
pullball of wax. You're right, it's all right, like our contentment,
our purpose, our identity, everything down here hinges on. Do
we know that and do we accept that?

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah? Man, when I was in the darkest place in
my life and rock bottom, and when the Lord brought
me out of that, it was in a realization that
He loves me when I least deserved to be loved,
or when I was the most unlovable, you know, Romans
five eight, while we were still sinners, God shows his

(32:52):
love for us. How while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us when we were unlovable. And when that
reality grabs you, and I've heard so many people it
sounds like it's similar to your testimony too. When that
reality finally wraps you up, you say, why would he
forgive me? Why would he pursue me? Why would he
give Why would he give me an an inheritance to

(33:14):
the kingdom. Oh, because he loves me beyond what I
could possibly understand. And it's usually that's the thing, like,
that's what that's what wakes people up and they go, oh,
my God. Then from there then they want to be obedient.
Then they want to read their Bibles. Then they want

(33:34):
to join a local body of believers and celebrate and tell.
Then they want to evangelize and tell other people about it.
It comes from being loved. That's the beginning of it.
And so so many times people try to do it
backwards and they go, man, I need a first, I
need to learn how to love myself. And once I
learn how to love myself, then I'll then I'll really
get into the church thing. And and the way the

(33:56):
Bible speaks, it's like, you can't love yourself, bro, and
until you know who he is. You can't even know
yourself until you know who he is, and then everything changes.
That sounds like the story of your brothers. I think
it is, man, And it sounds like what the conversion
you made from the old days to you're a different

(34:17):
person man than what.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
You used to be.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I yes, but I'm talking about you you're a
different person. Something happened with you. Man. You say it's kids,
the Lord Jesus kids.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Yeah, I think he's I think he still got a
long way to go. But I'm very grateful to have
more purpose, or at least be aware that there's more
purpose than just how big is my music career gonna be?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
You know, well, let's let's get to that. Let me
tell you these let me tell you these lyrics here.
You wrote these in the grip of changing winds and
the hands of open waters, the shadow of the moon
and the rising tide. It conjures heaven. Hear my prayer,
lest the will of God desert me. You didn't bring

(35:09):
me all this way for Baron Shules to show me
no mercy. You believe that.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
I still every day believe it. I am on the
journey still. And that's why that song, every time I
hear it, it helps me. It helps me remember I'm
gonna feel tossed, I'm gonna feel lost, I'm gonna feel

(35:39):
like I'm never gonna I'm always gonna feel like will
I ever get there?

Speaker 2 (35:44):
You know what you said three times? You realize what
you said three times in a row. Feel the problem
is feel. I'm gonna feel lost, I'm gonna feel like
he's abandoned me. I'm gonna feel like the tides are changing.
I'm gonna feel feel, feel, And so we take what
we feel and we put that under the accountability of
what we know, what we know he is doing. Paul

(36:07):
says in Philippians One that he who began a good
work in you will bring it to completion. Let's go
in the midst of all that. You're gonna feel tired,
You're gonna feel lost, You're gonna feel like your faith
is failing. You're gonna feel like you're a bad father
and a bad husband and a failed musician in your
career is tanking. You're gonna feel feel feel. We see

(36:29):
this in the Psalms all the time. It's great to
go see King David and what he writes in the
songs of it, he feels, feels, feels, and then he knows.
There's the accountability. But I know I know what you're doing, Lord,
and you wrote it in your song. You didn't bring
me all this way for Baron Scholes to show me
no mercy. The Lord didn't bring you all this way.

(36:50):
Canaan through all this through tragedy in your life. Your
parents didn't make it that, they didn't make it through this.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
It was no, they're not together. What you mean No? Yeah, no,
the they get divorced.

Speaker 4 (37:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
The Lord didn't bring you through all of this so
that at the very end he can go, oh o Cane,
you didn't make it. I'm so sorry, buddy. Now he's
working all of this, All of this pain has a
has a purpose. Paul says that this light, momentary affliction
is producing an eternal weight of glory. So all this

(37:30):
is working for us. And he didn't bring you all
this way for Baron Schulz to show you no mercy.
That's that is an amazing thought, because what you've been through, brother,
is is let me see it this way. It's impossible.
You can't do it. You won't make it on your own.

(37:51):
So you rest in him. You rest in him who
has a plan that that turn, that will be working
all things for good, it for those who love him.
That's an incredible promise, man.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
I believe it. Thank you for that reminder, man, It's huge.
I love you, buddy, Thank.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
You, man. I need to hear it. I'm sorry to
take us to this take us to this level of
we're just inviting everybody into a conversation between us right now.
I do think there's more to say about about your career.

(38:34):
Let me ask you this. This is another another thinker here.
Do you think the Lord wants you to have a
successful music career? It's not a trick question, that's not
like a gotcha question. Do you think the Lord wants
you to have a successful music career?

Speaker 1 (38:51):
I don't know. I I know the Lord wants me
to know him.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Boom, I know that. Boom. So when you know that,
the purpose of you knowing him, really, the Bible says,
is so that he is glorified. But it's not like
some cosmic narcissism, you know, like's not He's not up been,
heaven going. I want you to know me so that

(39:24):
I'm I get the glory. Caanan like like he like
he need, He doesn't need anything. In fact, he is
He's perfectly complete the way he is, the Triune God
is perfectly complete. He doesn't need you or me. He
doesn't need my evangelism or your music or anything. But
because he created you and here it is because he

(39:45):
loves you. He wants you to glorify him. And here's
the illustration to that. It's like, imagine a museum, incredible museum,
and in that museum, through all the displays, there's this
one painting that's mind totally dynamic, it's incredible painting, and
it's sitting there on this display. And here you come

(40:06):
and I come. We come walking in there, and we're
on our phones looking down walking through this museum, going
by this display, and we're looking down on our phones
just like mindlessly scrolling something. And if the painting in
that moment, if the painting could talk, it would say, Canaan,
look to me, look up, look to me. Not because
I need you to look at me, not because it

(40:28):
makes me feel better if you look at me, but
because if you look at me, this will change your
life because you will get so much joy, giving me glory. Yeah,
and that's that's why God says, canaan, know me, know me.
And then if you have a successful music career, awesome.

(40:48):
If you don't and he's leading you somewhere else, awesome, right,
But at some level, as long as the bills are paid,
as long as you're taking care of your wife and kids,
then then and giving him the praise, then you will
feel joy, you will feel contentment in that. It's crazy, right.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yes, yes, I can testify to that because I'm only
I'm only there now for the first time where I'm
I have a career. My career is music, right, but
I'm not defined by it for the first time. And
that's okay, It's it's beautiful that I'm not. I'm I've
accepted that. And you know, if I am open to

(41:30):
whatever he has because I want to know him and
I want my family to know him. I want us
to have I want us to experience God to the fullest.
That's my goal in life. So ammers whatever he's got
planned on, sign me up.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
And by the way, on top of all that, you're
also incredibly talented that the Lord has gifted you with
incredible that this album is amazing. Uh And so you know,
we can't say any of that without also saying the
Lord has definitely gifted you as an entertainer, as a writer,
as a singer, performer, guitar player, all the above. But
that also doesn't necessarily mean because of that you will

(42:08):
equally have success in it, just like all your peers. Yeah,
so who knows. I mean, I love. I love that.
That's your answer. So we you mentioned earlier that we
had this mutual friend nugget. I call him Chris Clifton.
That's right. And I said, dude, I said, I'm going

(42:29):
to have a conversation with Canaan today. I thought you'd
want to know. And he was like, oh, it's amazing.
And then he sends me this text and he says,
here's some things that you might not know about him.
He cooks spaghetti three nights a week. What's true? What's
up that?

Speaker 1 (42:47):
That's hilarious, dude, that is true.

Speaker 3 (42:50):
It is true.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
We made it last night.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Actually, that's good. All right? What about this one? He
said he once pushed a terrified girl down a slide
on National Time. Oh god, what does that mean? What
does that mean?

Speaker 3 (43:09):
I was on the Amazing Race that TV show, all right,
and the girl who was my partner I was dating
at the time, and we uh got to this.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
The challenge was to just literally go down a water slide.
It was a big water slide, but it was still
just a water slide. All you had to do was
go down it.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
And she was so.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Terrified that she sat up there for forty five minutes.
At the top and I was trying to peel her
hands from the bar so I could push her down
the slide and go get our million dollars. That's what
he's talking That's what he's talking about.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
I remember when he first said that, I didn't know
what he was talking about. Now I remember that moment.
You know what else he said though he said this,
Chris said, I will say he is one of the
kindest and most thoughtful dudes that I know. He's always
reaching out to his friends to check on them to
see how things are going. I know that's random, but

(44:11):
he's really good at that. And I agree, man, Kana,
that's you, and that's the Lord working in you. That's
not the same guy that that what that was throwing
the drums at the music festival on the West Coast
that day. The Lord has softened you, man, and uh god,
it's it's beautiful, man, It's beautiful to see what the
Lord is doing with you.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
Appreciate that very much. Yeah, like you said first, I
can't take the credit for that. That's that is Jesus
doing his thing, man. But it's really cool when people
feel the effects of what he's doing, you know, because
the biggest our biggest responsibility is to try to love others. Right,
that was the great commission.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
That's right. So that's right. I love hearing.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Bro.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
I love the record. I love all the songs. I
love that it's independent. I love that you made it
for an amazing fifteen thousand dollars. I still don't really
know how.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
You did that.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
But most importantly, I love that the Lord is drawing
you and changing you and redirecting your thoughts and your passions.
I mean, I could definitely speak to that, that the
Lord starts rearranging desires and changing passions. And at one time,
at one time, you and I both were you know,

(45:36):
our whole world revolved around let's make the single work.
You know. Yeah? And then when the single works, I mean,
the very next thought you have is time for time
to do it again on the next single. And that
never ends.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
No, And how can you be happy doing it like that?

Speaker 2 (45:56):
I possible?

Speaker 1 (45:56):
I couldn't.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
I mean, like, what would what would make us happy?
Five number ones?

Speaker 1 (46:01):
It?

Speaker 2 (46:02):
How about nine? Ten?

Speaker 1 (46:04):
No?

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Because then you want fifteen with fifteen number one singles
make us happy? No, you got to hit it even twenty.
That ends? So anyway, man, I appreciate the conversation. I
hope you enjoyed it. You got to do it again.
I got a bud. I want to. I want to.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
I want to do this again because I want to
hear like and we can just do it over over
beers and on the phone one time too if you want.
But yeah, there's a lot to catch up to on
your side of the story and I want to keep
diving in on too. Okay, thank you for the time today, man,
it was awesome.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
No, man, that's the same same to you. It's an
honor to have you canan and let's keep talking. Love it, dude,
I love you, love you hell all right, see you bro.
Thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith podcast. I appreciate
all of you.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
You could help me out by rating this podcast on iTunes.
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Bobby Bones

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Lunchbox

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Raymundo

Mike D

Mike D

Abby Anderson

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