Canaan Smith Doesn’t Have a Record Deal, and He’s Just Fine With That: ‘I Didn't Want to Sell My Soul’ (Exclusive)

Canaan Smith is a self-proclaimed perfectionist.

“I'll hammer away at everything I hear,” Smith, 42, tells PEOPLE. “I'm just an artist in that respect. I'm super insecure at the same time as I’m somehow confident. It's a weird combination, but welcome to my life and my headspace.”

But at the beginning of April 2024, as the Virginia native began working on his new album Chickahominy, Smith says he made the conscious decision to creatively loosen his grip a bit.

“I've had to trust other ears,” Smith says of working with an entirely new creative team on the new album scheduled for release on Friday, Jan. 24. “I’m having to trust other people, and all in all, this process has been beautiful for me.”

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It’s an ever-changing process that Smith has found himself entrenched in from the moment his second single “Love You Like That” went to number one in 2014. In the years that followed, the country music singer/songwriter found himself on and off the charts with songs such as “Hole in a Bottle,” “Like You That Way” and “This Night Back,” but ultimately made the decision to leave his record label in 2019.

“I was looking for other jobs, honestly,” Smith admits. “I've never told anybody that. I was in my head so hard and just not happy with where I was at. I felt very cheated by this town in some regards, and really frustrated with the TikTok regime ... I didn't want to sell my soul."

"The last thing I want to do is jump in as a 42-year-old and try to self-promote myself shamelessly 24/7. I can't do it. I'm a songwriter. I'm not a content creator," he adds.

Smith continues, “I’ve got other things in life that are way more important that need my attention,”

“I just want to put out cool s---," he says. "I'm tired of worrying about how I am going to make this and how is this going to make me money? I just want the music to come from a place of inspiration and core beliefs — my kids have changed my motives.”

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Indeed, Smith says his priorities shifted greatly the moment he and wife Christy first welcomed their children into the world.

“They have given me more confidence as a human, so that spills over into confidence as an artist,” Smith says of the direct affect that 5-year-old Virginia Rose and 2-year-old Ramsey Canaan has made on his career.

“It’s the craziest thing. Children will give you freedom and they'll take away your freedom, all at the same time. Everything that I thought was in my control anyhow, is not anymore. And because of that, the art that I get to make now is more inspired than put together.”

Letting go of the fear now serves as an unspoken theme of Chickahominy.

“I need freedom from the perfectionism and the bondage of this town,” Smith says. “It can be such a help and such a hurt. That's why we took it elsewhere.”

In fact, the entirety of Chickahominy was cut in the Tennessee suburb of Murfreesboro, while also using a band Smith had never worked with before previously.

“I stepped away from the ‘should dos’ and did it more the inspired way,’ he says. “I wanted to feel more far away from the norm as possible.”

So, the Amazing Race alum went back to his core with songs such as “Chickahominy,” which tells the story of his home, long before the bright lights of fame found him.

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“The Chickahominy was a river that was sort of on the elusive wrong side of the tracks in my hometown,” explains Smith. “’Chickahominy’ was easy to write because it’s a combination of knowing how I want my music to sound these days and knowing myself better than I think. I'm starting to allow those instincts to not be snuffed out and just go with it.”

Songs such as “No Mercy,” “Bad News” and “See You Again” also has Smith delving deep into both his deepest faiths and his own mental health.

“There are times where I've been crippled by accident-based trauma from my childhood and that idea that the worst could happen mentality,” explains Smith, whose revealing song “Ain’t Much to Write Home About” also premieres exclusively on PEOPLE.

“I'm trying to sift through that, and I think sharing that honestly with people helps create the best songs, and its these songs that mean more to me than any hit song will ever mean.”

Chickahominy will be available for purchase on Friday, Jan. 25.

Read the original article on People