After a couple of relatively quiet months, Dan + Shay are once again hitting the stage: They performed at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, where they also won Top Country Duo/Group, and now they’re on tour with Kenny Chesney for the summer.
And while both members of the duo are longtime Kenny fans who’ve been to plenty of his shows as fans, they say that getting on stage is giving them a chance to get to know his fanbase in a new way.
“It’s a great group of people. It’s very eclectic,” says Shay Mooney. “You’ve got anyone from, you know, [age] 10 to 80. It’s just people that love music and that love people. It’s a nice vibe.”
And when they’re not on tour? Bandmate Dan Smyers says they’ve been taking advantage of the downtime to get to work on some new music.
“Writing songs — I mean, we can’t stop. That’s all we do,” he explains, adding that they’re trading in a traditional writer’s room for a sunnier locale this summer. “We’ve been writing songs by the pool, a little bit, trying to enjoy being outside.”
The duo are operating at a slower pace than they were this time last year, since the summer of 2021 was a jam-packed few months filled with touring and makeup shows from last year’s pandemic cancellations.
“It was a grind. It was awesome. Very, very busy,” Dan continues. “This summer is just weekends. So we’re taking advantage of the weekdays at home, floating around the pool with an acoustic guitar and trying to write our best music.”
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