There were many things Nate Smith learned from Thomas Rhett while on the Home Team Tour 23, one of which is taking a moment to briefly share his journey with fans at shows.
"I got some good hang time with T.R. and Cole [Swindell] and was able to ask them questions about how to improve my show and stuff. The one thing that really stuck with me was 'make sure you tell your story every night on stage,'" Nate tells ABC Audio.
"We literally map that out every show now where I actually will take two solid minutes [and] tell everybody, 'I'm not going to talk your ear off for an hour, but here's why I'm here. And thank you for giving me a chance,'" he says.
Nate doesn't take for granted the fans who arrive earlier at venues for his opening set.
"I'm a new artist, baby artist, and it just means the world that people show up early as an opener and stuff like that to watch me," says the "World on Fire" singer. "The big thing I've taken away from the tour is to just really tell people who the hell you are, you know?"
Nate's putting all he's learned from Thomas and Cole on display on his headlining World On Fire Tour. The ongoing trek kicked off January 4 and will hit Cambridge, Massachusetts; Uncasville, Connecticut; New York and more, before wrapping in Dewey Beach, Delaware, on May 23.
For tickets and a full list of dates, head to Nate's website.