Dan + Shay put family, faith at center of ‘Young’ album

Dan Smyers was home when the call came.

It was raining. The news was difficult to comprehend: Ben Vaughn, the longtime Nashville publishing executive who believed in Dan + Shay before they were famous, had died.

"I was in shock," Smyers said. "I think we all kind of found out at the same time and, man, it just, it was wild."

More than a decade earlier, Vaughn saw Smyers and Shay Mooney not just as two songwriters, but as a powerhouse, chart-topping act.

"He was one of the first people to say, 'You guys are more than songwriters,'" Smyers said. "You should be a duo."

Vaughn brought them upstairs at Warner’s Nashville offices to play for then-label president John Esposito and producer Scott Hendricks. Now, more than 10 years later, Smyers and Mooney are back in that same Music Row building talking about "Young," their sixth studio album.

Released Aug. 21, the 10-track album still has the things Dan + Shay do best: large-scale choruses, close harmonies and polished romantic songs built to soundtrack weddings. But this new album also pushes further, especially when it comes to songs about faith.

"Young" explores how the choices we make carry consequences, questions…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/