Dan + Shay Open Up About Difficult Period In ‘The Drive’

Country duo Dan + Shay have opened up about a difficult period in their personal and professional lives that nearly ended their partnership.

In a new video titled “The Drive,” Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney talk about their time during lockdown and reveal that they didn’t even speak for four months.

“I was in, like, the lowest low of my entire life. Came off the road and I was like, ‘Man, I f***king hate music. I’m ready to quit,’” Smyers remembers.

“I could feel the separation, and I think there was little things between you and I that we never talked about,” Mooney adds. “It was affecting everything. Not just our band. Like, my marriage, everything. I was in a really dark place.”

After they wrapped up their tour, the bandmates didn’t speak for the next four months. Finally, in March 2022, they met in order to discuss the future of the band.

“Whether we break up and we hug it out and say ‘Man, this has been the best 10 years of my life,’ or we say, ‘Man, this is a launching-off point, this is a new beginning, this is a chance for a whole new outlook on life,’” Smyers says, describing the crossroads they were experiencing at the time.

(Photo: Catherine Powell)