American country music performer Nate Smith is associated with Sony Music Nashville. He obtained a publishing agreement with Sony/ATV after his song “Wildfire” went viral on TikTok in 2020, which helped him achieve popularity on social media before getting a record deal with a major label. Born and reared in Paradise, California, Smith was formerly signed to Word Records. He credits his church’s youth minister with getting him interested in music performance and lists Garth Brooks, Tom Petty, and Fleetwood Mac as some of his earliest influences. He earned a record deal with Word Records and a publishing agreement with Centricity Music after relocating to Nashville at the age of 23. He served as the opening act for performers like Brett Eldredge, Eli Young Band, and X Ambassadors during this time.
Smith’s home burned down in the Butte County Camp Fire when he moved back to Paradise, California, in 2018. The tragedy served as the inspiration for his breakthrough song “One of These Days.” Local media as well as a number of national publications, such as NPR, broke the news of the release, which prompted Smith to go back to Nashville and continue his musical career. Smith’s next single, “Wildfire,” was made public following his move. Over 3 million people watched a video of the performer singing his song after it went viral on the social media site TikTok. A few months later, in November 2021, Smith signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville and released “Raised Up,” his major label debut song that he co-wrote with hit songwriter Jonathan Smith.
