Wild Horses: The Nashville Album

Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, this 1998 release saw Smokie (featuring Mike Craft on lead vocals) leaning heavily into the country-pop genre. By utilizing local session players and traditional country instrumentation like pedal steel and fiddle, the band successfully recontextualized their signature vocal harmony sound within an Americana framework. The album features a mix of original material and well-chosen covers, all filtered through a production style that mirrors the 'hat act' country sound of the mid-90s. While Smokie had always toyed with country influences in their earlier hits, Wild Horses represents their most committed genre exercise. It was received as a professional, if safe, transition into adult contemporary territory, solidifying their popularity in European markets where their brand of melodic rock has always had a strong affinity with country music's storytelling tradition.