Dan + Shay Say Touring Is 'Very Emotional' After Nearly Going Separate Ways

Shay Mooney is embracing “a newfound energy.”

The country singer-songwriter said he's experienced a “very emotional” return to the stage this year after he and his duo partner nearly split up.

Mooney, one half of award-winning duo Dan + Shay , looked ahead to summer tour dates on the “Heartbreak On The Map Tour.” He and Dan Smyers are bringing Jake Owen and Dylan Marlowe on dozens of tour stops all over the map, kicking off on Thursday (July 18) in Cincinnati, Ohio. The next leg of Dan + Shay’s “Heartbreak On The Map Tour” includes stops in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and other destinations before wrapping up in September in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Dan + Shay caught up with iHeartCountry earlier this year as they arrived at the 59th ACM Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire at the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas (Smyers told iHeartCountry that serving as the first coaching duo on The Voice was “it’s a good excuse for us to get to hang out with Reba every day”). Dan + Shay took home the Duo of the Year award that night . For Smyers and Mooney, the Duo of the Year victory and the resurgence of energy on the road arrives after a period of time that Mooney and Smyers nearly quit music.

“There’s just a newfound energy, a newfound gratitude by us that we get to do this, man. It’s crazy,” Mooney said as he spoke about the upcoming tour dates, which follow a run of shows earlier this year with Ben Rector and Hailey Whitters . “There was a time that we went through that we didn’t know if we were gonna be a band anymore, and to be able to stand on that stage, it was very emotional, and I don’t know, we definitely appreciate what we get to do more than ever now. There’s just a newfound love for what we get to do. I mean, this is a crazy job that we get to have, so the energy’s just off the chart. …I’m fired up. It’s just amazing.”

Dan + Shay opened up last year about going through a period of time feeling “ready to quit,” amid intense burnout . Smyers and Mooney went four months without speaking to one another, and met up again in March 2022 to consider the future of the band. The duo reflected on rough patches over the years, in a three-minute, 45-second video posted in July 2023, and shared how they ultimately opted to “fight for this,” and return “a million times the closest we’ve ever been.”

“We love this band. This has been our life. It matters. It matters to people and we had a responsibility and we owed it to them,” Mooney said at that time. “It’s amazing to know now that we found that joy that we were talking about.”

Months after sharing that video, Dan + Shay released their long-awaited fifth studio album, Bigger Houses . Smyers and Mooney said they “truly believe this is our best work yet,” and paid tribute to their wives , Abby Smyers and Hannah Mooney , when the album made its debut in September 2023. The 12-track project includes the song that inspired the name of the tour, “Save Me The Trouble,” “Always Gonna Be,” “Heaven + Back,” “We Should Get Married,” the title track and other highlights.

1. Breakin’ Up With a Broken Heart – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley

2. Save Me The Trouble – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Ashley Gorley, Jordan Minton, Jordan Reynolds

3. Heartbreak On The Map – Dan Smyers, Jimmy Robbins, Ernest Keith Smith

4. Always Gonna Be – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Ashley Gorley, Jordan Minton, Jordan Reynolds

5. For The Both of Us – Dan Smyers, Andy Albert, Jordan Reynolds

6. Then Again – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Andy Albert, Lori McKenna, Jordan Reynolds

7. Heaven + Back – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Matt Dragstrem, Josh Thompson

8. What Took You So Long – Dan Smyers, Jordan Minton, Jordan Reynolds, Jimmy Robbins

9. Missing Someone – Trannie Anderson, Adam Doleac, Dylan Guthro, Gordie Sampson

10. We Should Get Married – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Andy Albert

11. Neon Cowgirl – Dan Smyers, Shay Mooney, Zach Crowell, Jessie Jo Dillon, Ashley Gorley

12. Bigger Houses – Dan Smyers, Andy Albert, Jordan Minton, Jordan Reynolds

Bigger Houses adds to a growing list of career-spanning hits by Dan + Shay, along with “Tequila,” “10,000 Hours,” “Glad You Exist,” “Speechless,” “Nothin’ Like You,” “19 You + Me,” “How Not To” and many others. Smyers and Mooney teased “our best set list yet,” in a video shared on Dan + Shay’s Instagram story on Monday (July 15) as they finished rehearsals for the “Heartbreak On The Map Tour.” See the list of tour stops below .