Corey Smith taught world history, geography and guitar at North Gwinnett High School in Georgia until he was 28, then quit to play music full-time. He grew up in Jefferson, a few miles from Athens. His records go back to Undertones in 2003, self-produced and released on his own Undertone imprint. The Broken Record, 17 songs mixing new material with re-cut fan favorites like "Twenty-One" and "If I Could Do It Again," reached No. 17 on the country albums chart in 2011. In 2015 he made a Sugar Hill album with producer Keith Stegall.
Suburban Drawl came out in November 2023. At a January 2023 bar show in Chicago, in a room he said he'd been coming back to for more than 15 years, the set ran from "21" and "Carolina" to a cover of Flo Rida's "My House." In September 2026 he opened for Flatland Cavalry in Athens and Chattanooga.