Shane Smith & The Saints visit Redmond Saturday.

When Shane Smith looks back on his life and tries to pinpoint an experience that propelled him to where he is today, he can’t stop at just one.

There was the time he drove to the next town over from his home in Texas to see Cross Canadian Ragweed and Pat Green play a show.

“I think that played a big role in me more or less wanting to pick up a guitar and try to figure it out,” Smith said.

And there was the time Texas songwriting legend Ray Wylie Hubbard sat down with him and sketched out some guitar strings and fingerpicking patterns and changed the way Smith played.

“That was a huge moment where I realized, like, there’s clearly something here if (he’s) taking the time to try to help me out,” he said.

And then there was the time Smith was on stage at the Mile 0 Festival in Florida, singing “Pancho and Lefty” with Cody Canada, former lead singer of Cross Canadian Ragweed — that band he’d driven to see back in Texas all those years ago.

“I remember that being one of those moments,” he said, “where you just go, ‘What in the world’s going on? This is feeling more and more real with every month that passes by.’”

That was four and a half years ago, and if a career in music felt real to Smith back then, one can only imagine how it feels today. Over the past decade, Smith and his band The Saints, who will appear at General Duffy’s Waterhole in Redmond Saturday, have risen from their roots as a popular local band in Austin, Texas, music scene to one of the fastest-rising acts in the non-mainstream country scene, hot on the heels of big names like Whiskey Myers and the Turnpike Troubadours.

Take a spin through The Saints’ most recent album “Norther” and it’s easy to hear why their fan base has grown significantly in recent years. The band’s sound is a particularly powerful blend of authentic Texas country and widescreen folk-rock, with Smith’s singing voice — an earnest, raspy baritone — bringing a hefty dose of soul to the mix.

It’s a sound that has carried The Saints to a number of career highlights, including headlining shows at legendary venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and Royal Albert Hall in London. Playing all three is “pretty special,” said Smith, who once attended a Gregory Alan Isakov show at Red Rocks.

“I just remember thinking it was out of reach when we were there,” he said, “and I remember feeling like, ‘This would be incredible. But there’s no way.’”

Earlier this year, The Saints played their second headlining gig at Red Rocks, and a third is in the works, Smith said. And in October, they’ll play back-to-back nights at the Ryman, the iconic former home of the Grand Ole Opry.

“We’re trying to sell them out,” Smith said. “It’s a big leap to jump to two nights in a row at that place. But we’re excited about it.”

And it’s not like he and The Saints haven’t made their fair share of big leaps over the years.

“You kind of have to rip the Band Aid off and just keep pressing and see what happens,” Smith said. “It’s probably for the best that we had no clue what we were doing in our early days. If we’d known how difficult it would be, I don’t know that we could’ve looked it in the eye and kept going.”

What: Shane Smith and The Saints, with Lowdown Drifters and Grace Tyler

When: 5 p.m. Saturday, doors open 4 p.m.

Where: General Duffy’s Waterhole, 404 SW Forest Ave., Redmond

Cost: $35 (adults), $25 (kids)

Contact: generalduffys.com