Single, new band Broken Road symbolic of rebirth

RACHEL BAILEY

Singer Tim Cadiere sings in the Morton Theatre in the midst of shooting a video for new song "From the Devil to the Cross."""

Plenty of musicians burn out or fade away, but how many are lucky enough to experience a rebirth?

This is the case with Georgia-based country band Broken Road, which has resurrected the careers of several experienced musicians.

“All of us have 15, 20 years of road experience, just doing it every night, and because of that this band has worked, because everybody just sat down and you could look at any member and tell, ‘OK, we’re going here,’” said drummer Brad Smith.

Smith in particular has toured and recorded with numerous high-profile artists, including Matchbox Twenty, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Alter Bridge.

“We lived the road. That’s what it was,” he said. “The rule was you can be married, but you don’t act married, don’t look married. Act available, just don’t be available. And a lot of guys can’t handle that. So you end up on the road, you’re doing coke and drinking all day, and everybody loves it because you’re on the radio or on TV.”

But a life of endless touring and partying eventually takes its toll – and for Smith, it was more than just a hard habit to break.

“It becomes almost like a God complex if you can’t control that,” he said. “My problem was I was self-medicating. But I ended up in rehab a few times, and in ‘04 I retired. I said, ‘You know what? I can’t do this anymore. I want to have my family and live and just be done with the crazy lifestyle.’”

Broken Road, whose core comprises Smith, lead singer Tim Cadiere and fiddle player Waylin Wright, initially struggled to achieve a stable line-up but eventually pulled in lead guitarist Chad Gantt, pedal steel player Austin Tripp and bassist Andrew Benfield.

Now the band already has a hit single, “Thinkin’ Outside the Box,” scaling the charts, which was penned by esteemed Warner/Chappell country songwriters Anna Lisa Graham, Tim Nichols and Connie Rae Harrington.

Since its release in August, the song has peaked at No. 107 on the country charts and continues to gather momentum on the radio. Much of the song’s appeal lies in its poignant yet uplifting lyrical content, which symbolizes the members of Broken Road’s own rebirths.

“It’s [about] this homeless guy; everybody treats him like garbage and just ignores him,” Smith said. “He’s just a fixture there that people pass by every day. But he’s human, and even a smile or a handshake to the guy, that’s something. It took another homeless person [in the] same position he’s in to . hand the guy a beer and go, ‘You know what, you are somebody.’ And it changed his whole life.”

The powerful message symbolizes the feeling of rebirth Broken Road provides for Smith and company.

“All of us have been down that road,” Smith said. “We’ve all played it, we’ve done it – and now we show up in a 45-foot Prevost bus and the first thing that walks off the bus is our kids. We’re taking our whole family on the road now because we don’t have anything to hide from them. It’s totally different, and it’s working.”