Jennifer Vickery Smith is the outgoing and bubbly mother of country music artist Conner Smith and director, videographer, and actor, Cooper Smith. Jennifer has been involved in media for over 20 years, having worked as a reporter, anchor, producer, and print journalist. She has worked with major networks, including Entertainment Tonight and EXTRA and can often be seen on Nashville’s WSMV-TV.
Conner actually found his passion for music by listening and studying interviews his mom did with famous songwriters like Craig Wiseman, Neil Thrasher, Kelly Lovelace, and Tom Douglas. He felt connected to the storytelling of country music, and began writing his own. His career is on the rise and he’s been touring alongside some of Country’s biggest artists including Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell, Chase Rice and Jordan Davis. Smith was also named a New Face of Country Music at the Country Radio Seminar last night which is a great honor and Jennifer was on hand to cheer him on as a proud mom.
After Conner landed a record deal in 2022, Jennifer got the brilliant idea to start a podcast where she talks to other music moms about their parenting experiences and shares heartwarming stories about famous entertainers as they were growing up. The podcast is called Got It From My Momma and can be enjoyed on most streaming apps. Jennifer also creates videos of her interviews with fellow moms and posts them to her Youtube channel of the same name.Â
We met with Jennifer at the 2023 CMA Fest when she doing a live interview and podcast recording with Luke Bryan’s mom and wife. We talked about traveling with her son, trips in their Dolly RV, and her crazy story about her lost honeymoon luggage.
I know your son played baseball growing up. What’s your favorite memory of traveling for baseball or road trips?
Well, this is funny. Conner and I were talking about it this morning because he loves to tell this story. I’m one of those moms that was at every game, and I never missed anything, but the one game I missed for a work commitment, guess what it was? He hit his first home run ever and I missed it. So, he never lets me live it down.
However, I will say travel wise we did do travel ball, and Conner was in the Little League World Series. We won the State of Tennessee tournament then we went on to regions, which was in Warner Robins, Georgia. From there we went to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the Little League World Series is. It was such a cool experience for our whole family to be on that journey. So that was extreme travel with baseball.
What’s your favorite family vacation growing up with him?
I would say a trip we took to Montana is probably a favorite for all of us. What was funny, though, is that we traveled quite a bit when they were younger, and I remember an essay that he wrote one time that was ‘Favorite place you’ve ever been?’ and Conner wrote about going to Dollywood in Gatlinburg, and I was like, ‘wow, all these cool places we go and you loved Gatlinburg the best?’, which, you know, that’s a kids perspective. That was pretty fun.
What are your must pack travel items?
Comfortable clothes for sure. Comfortable shoes. All the toiletries. I try to go pretty low key on travel. I’m a pretty low maintenance person. A passport. You might need that. Those are the only things I can think of for sure. A good book to read.
What’s your perfect day in Nashville?
It might be a little bit of quiet time on my porch in the morning and then heading out. I love to take friends out. My biggest recommendation is the Country Music Hall of Fame, and it is my very favorite place to go and to take people in town. Even though it’s this huge venue that sits right in the middle of downtown, a lot of locals don’t go.
I’m like, ‘You don’t know what you’re missing out on. Like the reason we’re Music City is because of all the stories and the history that’s in there.’ So, it’s my favorite spot. I also love the new Fifth and Broad area if you’re going to come downtown.
Do you get to see Conner’s shows a lot? How do you travel to them?
My husband and I bought an RV, and that’s how we go to Connor’s shows. His travel schedule is crazy, but we look at all the tours and everything, and we kind of route it to where we can go somewhere and enjoy things around that area. So that has been a really cool thing for us. But we bought the RV in 2020 and then he started traveling.
We will route our RV tour with him. We’ve had to ask Thomas Rhett’s folks, ‘Hey, can we park our RV backstage?’ They’ve been so good to us. I haven’t gotten the nerve up to ask Luke (Bryan) yet, but I’m going to. Our RV’s name is Dolly. We call it Dolly RV. It’s got Dolly Parton pictures in it. It’s really fun.
I’ve ridden in RVs, but I can’t imagine pulling one and getting one to places. Are there any struggles or tips you have?
The parking is the biggest thing, but it is so nice. And that way, when we’re at shows and the guys are all in the bus and doing their thing, we’re not in the way. Nobody wants mom and dad all up in their grill while they’re getting ready for a show. We kind of sit back and we are able to have our spot. But then when it’s time for the show, we can go in and our dog, Tucker, travels with us all. He’s a golden retriever. He loves the RV. It’s funny, he hates to ride in a car, but he loves the RV.
What’s your craziest travel story?
Probably just our RV adventures. I mean, there’s always something that can get a little bit crazy in that.
When we got married 28 years ago, my husband and I had to drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Then we were going to fly to the Virgin Islands for our honeymoon, and we got to Atlanta and had no luggage. The bridesmaid in charge of putting my suitcase into his car just didn’t do it.
So, we get there and I do not have any luggage for our honeymoon. I remember going to the lost luggage place or whatever because we were trying to figure out, could we get it on a flight from Chattanooga to Atlanta just because it would get there quicker? We didn’t have time to go back and do the drive. I remember breaking down in tears.
And because I had no clothes, I put on a pair of my husband’s underwear to be able to go to the airport. Not in fancy clothes at all. I remember when I was crying, I looked at the lady, I’m like, ‘You have to help me figure out how to get my luggage. I have on my husband’s underwear. We just got married.’ Anyway, that’s kind of crazy.
We figured it out. They did. They flew it down. I think we had to change the flight to a later time, but they ended up putting it on a plane for us.