“I feel like such an important part of my job is providing that escapism—providing a moment for people to, for three minutes at a time, forget where they are and just get that total release into the music,” country singer Granger Smith tells Apple Music about his song “That’s Why I Love Dirt Roads.” “That’s what it always was for me, growing up.” Smith did his growing up in Dallas, where he was born in 1979, and Texas provided plenty of learning ground for Smith until he moved to Nashville at 19 after signing a songwriting contract with EMI. Smith’s songs provide snapshots of a sentimental America, awash in feel-good, nostalgic twang that sets scenes of big skies (“Backroad Song”), falling in love (“Happens Like That”), and all down-home things in between (“Country Things”). His pseudo-satirical, hard-living musical alter ego, Earl Dibbles Jr., allows him an extra chance to provide that previously mentioned escapism through tongue-in-cheek cuts like “The Country Boy Song” and “Merica,” the latter of which rolls out a number of rural caricatures. But the patriotic bent isn’t all jokes—by 2020, Smith had already graced The White House with his music three times.