Country singer, Granger Smith and his family have recently gone through an unimaginably difficult time. Early June, Smith’s 3-year-old son, River, passed away in a tragic drowning accident.
On Monday (July 22), Smith shared a video with fans catching them up on how he and his family have been doing. He starts off mentioning how they’ve been contacted by many people who are in or have dealt with similar situations, some specifically who’ve lost a child. “We’ve taken the challenge of talking to these people sharing that empathy because it makes us feel stronger. It helps us to find meaning,” Smith expresses.
He continues making it a point to recognize how social media can give off a false idea of how life is supposed to be. Often times, someone’s life can seem nearly perfect on social media, when the reality is everyone is facing trials of their own. “That’s an easy trap to get into. That’s a easy trap to get into, that a bad trap,” Smith says. Instead we try to focus on finding meaning and understanding life is going to throw a curveball. Life is going to come at you hard.”
The healing power of music has proven true now more than ever for Smith and his family. “Music has been at the core of my family. People say, how can you go up and play a show…how do you play a show? How do you get in front of those people? Sometimes I don’t even know the answer, he admittedly shares. “It’s because music is healing, and it’s not that I’m going out there trying to heal people, it’s that the fans are doing that back to me. It’s you guys that are lifting me. You guys are doing the healing.”
Smith reflects on the moment he realized how powerful music could be. He shares how his grandmother engraved the title of Garth Brooks’ song, “If Tomorrow Never Comes” onto his grandfather’s tombstone. “That’s when I realized…how powerful songs could be,” he says.
A few months before Smith lost River, he released a song called, “Heaven Bound Balloons.” Smith shares, “There’s so much irony in that song, me writing that song before having any idea about what was going to happen.
At a show on July 22, while opening up for Brooks on tour, Smith decided to honor his son in a special way. The singer’s brother walked out on stage holding a red balloon with a message to River written on it. Smith then let the balloon float off leaving everyone with the message that music IS healing.
The full video posted on Smith’s Youtube page can be viewed below.
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