Skip to content

VIDEO: Country star shares a song of significance with a local couple ahead of weekend nuptials

Dallas Smith’s Autograph holds sentimental meaning to a Clayton Heights couple.
8218923_web1_LoveSong

Britt Elam coaxed her girlfriend Sam Audley into a helicopter, then flew her to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to propose marriage – Dallas Smith’s hit song, Autograph, playing in the background.

Again, when the couple gets married this weekend, Autograph will be the couple’s wedding song.

But the song took on extra special meaning for the Clayton Heights couple Tuesday night, when Smith invited the women up on stage to dance while he sang.

Elam, 45, proposed to Audley, 38, last September. Now, the two Mounties set to tie the knot this Sunday in Kelowna.

Ahead of the Boys of Fall Charity Golf Tournament concert, Audley put a bug in Smith’s ear about their impending nuptials and the importance of his song. Learning of their love story, he subsequently invited the pair on stage to rehearse the first dance for their wedding. Naturally, the song he sang was Autograph.

“Make some noise for the lovely couple…” Smith said, wrapping up the number.

“Congratulations on the dance, and I hope it goes really well,” he said bidding the couple adieu.

The couple described the entire experience Tuesday night as surreal and said it left them speechless.

“I had no idea Sam did this,” Britt acknowledged, explaining how Sam emailed the event organizers right after Britt purchased tickets to the show.

Sam explained how “special and meaningful” his song was to them, and asked if there was any way the song could be dedicated to them.

“I had no idea Sam was doing this,” Britt reiterated. “So, when Dallas Smith called out our names, then invited us up on stage to dance, it was all almost surreal. We never expected him to go above and beyond in that way.”

Dancing on stage, before a crowd of about 800 people, with Smith singing Autograph “is something that we will never forget, and we both feel like it was a once-in-a-lifetime memory that we were very fortunate to be given by this amazing singer,” Britt shared the next morning.

“Such an amazing night,” she added. “Thank you to Dallas Smith for making this all happen,” for being a “thoughtful and caring person,” and for singing all of his “amazing songs that we all love so much.”

“What a great day,” Smith said. “I played really lousy golf, but this is a lot of fun,” he told the enthusiastic audience – many who were on their feet dancing or standing in front of the stage hoping to personally connection with the country music star.

Five years ago, Langley’s own Smith partnered with fellow musician and friend Chad Brownlee to launch a fundraising golf – all proceeds to JRfm’s Basics for Babies.

Tuesday’s tourney, which raised $143,000 for the cause, once again included an outdoor concert at the Redwoods Golf Course.

Smith was the last of four artists to perform before he and Brownlee presented the cheque to charity coordinator Terra Paredes.

“This was just a dream of Dallas’ and mine when we were on a bus one year touring together,” Brownlee told the crowd. “And, to see what it became is pretty humbling.”

• See related story and photos

8218923_web1_DSC_0231


Roxanne Hooper

About the Author: Roxanne Hooper

I began in the news industry at age 15, but honestly, I knew I wanted to be a community journalist even before that.
Read more