The Truth About Granger Smith And Amber Bartlett's Relationship

Granger Smith's career really took off in 2016 when his hit tune "Backroad Song" climbed the charts. The country star was beginning to make a name for himself in the music world, but he had actually been recording songs since 1998, per Billboard. After Smith moved to Nashville in 2000, he really "learned about the craft of songwriting" and about "the way to think about both songs and lyrics ...," he told the music outlet. "I listened to some of the older guys who ingrained that into me."

In 2010, Smith met his now-wife, Amber Bartlett, and they tied the knot the same year, per Us Weekly. After years of trying to make it, Smith — who shares two kids, daughter London and son Lincoln, with Bartlett — was thrilled when "Backroad Song" was played while he was out and about. "I was in a small town in Virginia with my wife the night before Valentine's Day. It was 3 a.m. We had been refreshing the chart, and there it was — 'Backroad Song' was No. 1," he told Billboard in 2016.

As Smith's become more and more famous, he's admitted that it's not always easy to balance being a father, a husband, and a musician. "That's the hardest challenge, no doubt," he said during an Ask Anything Chat in 2017. "I look at being a husband and being a father as my No. 1 priority." 

So how exactly did Smith's love story begin? Keep reading to find out.

Granger Smith met his now-wife, Amber Bartlett, in an unconventional way. In 2009, Smith was trying to recruit girls to appear in his music video for "Don't Listen to the Radio." "No one knew who I was, so we had to go to Craigslist and say, 'Country singer looking for female girlfriend for music video role,'" he recalled to Taste of Country in 2016. Smith met with dozens of ladies in "a hotel conference room," where he took "a prom date picture" with each one of them. Smith then chose a girl to star in the video, but after thinking it over, he realized she wasn't the right fit, so he turned to the internet.

"That night, literally, on Facebook I see that little section that says, 'Someone you may know' and I see her picture and I was like, 'That girl. Whoever that is, that's who should be in the video,'" he added. Lo and behold, "that girl" was Bartlett, who agreed to appear in the video alongside Smith.

Of course, Smith has nothing but fond memories of their time on set. "[Amber] is the girlfriend of mine in that video," he said during an Ask Anything Chat in 2017. "I didn't meet her until that day. So, if you watch the music video for 'Don't Listen to the Radio,' that's the same day I met my wife, and the rest is history."

After getting married in 2010, Granger Smith and Amber Bartlett welcomed three kids into their lives: London, Lincoln, and River. However, the Smith family endured an unthinkable tragedy in June 2019 when their youngest son, River, died following "a tragic accident."

The country singer revealed to his followers that River accidentally drowned in their pool at their family home in Texas, despite having "a pool gate" and "a fence that [they] built." Smith was "15 feet from [the] gate," he said in a YouTube video shortly after his son's sudden death. "There was silence ... I was 15 feet from that water, doing gymnastics," he recalled.

Unfortunately, Smith couldn't save his son in time. At the hospital, doctors noted that River had already suffered severe brain damage, and they wouldn't be able to bring him back. As a result, River was taken off life support and his organs were donated, per People.

Through the ups and the downs, Smith is grateful for his wife. "[Amber] has saved me from myself. She's taught me how to love, renewed my faith, and given me strength as a man," he wrote on Instagram in November 2019. "She's the half that makes me whole, the reflection of my soul, she's my oxygen. She's been through so much these past five months. More than even I know, but the light she shines is undeniable, unmistakable, and unwavering."

Even though Granger Smith and Amber Bartlett's relationship moved rather fast — they got engaged after only seven months — the two are in it for the long haul. "... [W]e're still in love," the "Happens Like That" singer captioned a photo of himself with Bartlett on Instagram in February 2020. "Stronger than ever before, but it feels different in its evolution now," he added. "It's not the fairytale, but the vulnerability that fuels the fire. The very essence of what makes us human ... bounded by integrity and truth but still fundamentally flawed ... that makes our love mature."

Smith noted "the real fairytale" is when you grow old together and know that you've been with each other through the good and the bad times. "I guess I just want to say that today is our 10-year wedding anniversary," he wrote. "And I love @amberemilysmith a whole bunch. And it will take more than 'till death do us part.'"

For her part, Bartlett explained their relationship "is real, raw, and so true" in an Instagram post in February 2020. "Happy 10, my warrior husband. No one else I would rather walk me Home than you, @grangersmith," she gushed.

After all Smith and Barlett have been through, it's safe to say that their love story is one for the books.