Dan + Shay are one of the hottest acts in country music, and that all started with a Christmas party in 2012.

9 years ago Dan Smyers threw a party, and one of the people to show up was Shay Mooney.

Dan shares the story, “We were at a party, at my house, and per usual, we were playing guitars, and passing guitars and singing covers. So Shay and I were hanging out that night, and I distinctly remember, I was like ‘This guy is pretty good at singing.’ And the next day we wrote a song, and that song got put on hold by a major artist that night, and we started writing more, and more songs. And we’re like, ‘This is going to work,’ and then somebody told us, ‘You guys should be a duo,’ and we’re like ‘Let’s do it.’”

Shay adds, “And here we are.”

So, what has been the key to their success all these year later, Dan says ““Balance is definitely part of what makes Dan + Shay work, when we found each other our songwriting balance, and our performing, and our harmonies kind of just met in the middle and created a sound that was unique, that people hadn’t heard before. Still till this day every-time we write we know our roles and we know where to balance each other out so that’s one of the Ying and Yang, ebb and flow things that makes this whole project work and makes it what it is today.”

Where it all began…

All the Good Things happening now…

Photo Courtesy of Dan + Shay