Canaan Smith performed an intimate show at Three Keys in New Orleans on May 19.
The night’s most poignant moment came when Canaan sang “Bronco,” the title track to his 2015 debut album.
Canaan co-penned the touching tune about his older brother, Nathaniel, who died at the age of 16. The mournful meditation is about the freedom Canaan felt beside his brother in the song’s namesake vehicle and the burden of those forced to continue on without him.
“When I think about Nathaniel, I still remember all the great things he was,” Canaan told Nash Country Daily in 2016. “I remember his smile. I remember the fact that he gave away his favorite pair of shoes on a mission trip to Mexico to a kid who didn’t have any shoes. I remember those details. I remember how great of an athlete he was and he could build anything with his hands. He was really good at all that stuff. But what I see in my head is him standing beside his Ford Bronco, that blue and white Bronco truck he bought and fixed up and was so proud of.”
Watch Canaan’s touching performance below.
