Country singer-songwriter Elisa Smith has won the 2025 Josie Music Award for Female Country Song of the Year, earning national recognition for her single “Nashville Don’t Forget Me.” Smith accepted the award onstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, marking a significant milestone in her career as an independent artist.
Smith, a Marblehead resident who splits her creative life between Boston and Music City, said the honor felt “surreal,” particularly given the personal meaning the Opry holds for her family.
Her late grandmother was a devoted fan of the Nashville institution, often sharing stories of artists she saw perform decades ago.
“Standing on the Opry stage in that same circle as so many of my heroes was so surreal,” Smith said. “It has been a lifetime goal of mine, and I know my grandmother was smiling down from heaven.”
The award-winning song, released in July 2024, was written by Smith and co-produced with Nashville drummer Caleb Gilbreath. The track also features Tim Denbo (bass), Tim Galloway (acoustic guitar), Brad Sample (electric guitar), Billy Nobel (keyboards), and Smith Curry (steel guitar), with mixing by Bobby Holland and mastering by Frank Gagliardi.
Smith describes the piece as “a love song to a time and place,” capturing both the magic of Nashville and the ache of leaving it behind.
This year’s Josie Music Awards also recognized Smith in two additional categories: Female Country Singer of the Year and EP of the Year for “Spirit on the Run,” released last September.
Though she frequently performs in Nashville and across New England, and has been nominated multiple times for both the Boston Music Awards and New England Music Awards, Smith remains fully independent.
“I don’t have a manager, booking agent, or marketing team,” she said. “It’s just me.”
Smith’s musical path began in rural Illinois, where she grew up listening to her father play guitar.
She recalled sitting inside his guitar case as a child, surrounded by stuffed animals, listening to him rehearse for church performances. After studying at Berklee College of Music, she remained in Boston rather than moving to Nashville, later earning her master’s degree in music education at Harvard.
A formative moment came during a Harvard lecture by country star Garth Brooks. When Smith asked Brooks how he coped with stage fright, an issue she struggled with after college, he invited her to play a song for a packed auditorium. Afterward, Brooks handed her the guitar he had played on tour, telling her to “keep singing her heart out.”
Smith has used the instrument on every album and at every performance since.
Her career has accelerated steadily in the years since. She recorded her debut EP “Hitch a Ride” in Nashville in 2018, followed by her full-length album “Baptized by Fire” in 2022 and the EP “Spirit on the Run” in 2024.
She plans to return to Nashville in March to record her next album, “Perfume,” scheduled for release in 2026.
The record focuses on what Smith calls “bad-ass women” and will donate 10% of proceeds to Rose’s Place, the country’s first women’s shelter.
Critics have praised her blend of Americana, folk, and vintage country influences. Country 102.5 FM likened her sound to “a Kacey Musgraves vibe… with blues and rock hues,” while WBUR highlighted her unusual path, noting that “the road to Nashville starts at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.”
Looking ahead, Smith hopes her recent win will help her take the next step in her longtime ambition: performing her own music on the Opry stage.
“I kept my speech short because I promptly went backstage and sobbed,” she said. “It has been a dream of mine to get on that stage, and I just couldn’t believe I had made it.”