Raised in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Smith learned guitar from her father. She eventually started playing shows around town and released her first album at the age of 16. Moving to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota in 2006, she started a residency at 400 Bar, a venue known for having hosted local hero Mason Jennings as well as artists like Conor Oberst and Elliott Smith. Multi-instrumentalist David Earl, bassist Jesse Schuster, and drummer Arlen Peiffer became her regular backing band, the Good Night Sleeps. As Caroline Smith the Good Night Sleeps, they recorded the album Backyard Tent Set, releasing it in 2008. Two years later, they returned with Little Wind, and Smith and Schuster issued Live at the Cedar.
Smith went solo for 2013's Half About Being a Woman, then, following a series of collaborations that required trips out West, relocated to Los Angeles. She started billing herself as Caroline Smith (Your Smith) at shows in early 2018 before presenting the project's debut EP, Bad Habit, on Neon Gold that August. It sported a cover photo of Smith with a cigarette in her mouth, a prop she also used on-stage. Your Smith followed up with the EP Wild Wild Woman on the same label in 2019. It featured a number of songwriting collaborators, including Schuster and Ethan Gruska. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi