A country artist from southern West Virginia is shooting for the stars with the release of his brand new single. 

At 8-years-old, Noah Smith said he started plucking his first guitar strings.

“I grew up in East Beckley, so a lot of hip hop influence” Noah said. “I also have a very country family, so I have a lot of traditional influence.”

He started taking guitar lessons from a local musical legend, Dan Bailey. But Noah said Dan did not have an easy time teaching him.

“Dan struggled” Noah recalled. “I’m sure I wasn’t the best student, but he struggled for about nine years with me, but I figured out how to play guitar by the end of it.”

Now Noah is using the lessons he learned from Dan and his hometown, and taking his first step into the professional music world with his new single, ‘Never Told A Lie.’

It took some time for Noah to get the hang of song writing. He started when he was at Concord University. That is where he decided he wanted to pursure music for the rest of his life, and it is those life experiences that inspired his single.

“It’s not necessary about one specific experience, it’s more so about all of it and just life in general and how we tell ourselves that ‘we’re okay, it’s okay, I’m fine. I don’t need anything or anybody’ and it’s just not true. You know, the lies that we tell ourselves?”

Noah said he is extremely grateful for the support from his community and he is looking forward to making more music.

People can listen to Smith’s new single and follow him on all major streaming services.