- 7/24/2025
Sam Hunt joins Katie Neal inside the Audacy studios located at the Hard Rock in the heart of Nashville!
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MusicTranscript
00:00back to keep us company this week Grammy nominated Sam Hunt with another song
00:04headed to the top of the charts how have you been I've been good yeah and yeah
00:08enjoying a little time off and we're back on the road now so I would say I
00:14feel refreshed but about that was about six months six weeks ago and I had a new
00:19baby get here so past six weeks I haven't gotten a whole lot of sleep but
00:22I'm still on cloud nine this is my third one in three years so I'm yeah it's
00:29having a bill time did you what did you guys have a little boy a little boy
00:33what'd you name him Wayman is his name Wayman Allen it's an old family name but
00:39are they both failing it because most of the kids your other two kids have
00:41family names too right yeah they're they're both family names my dad is
00:45actually named Allen is he oh okay got it goes a little further back did you guys
00:49know what you were having or did you wait and were you surprised we knew this time
00:52okay we did the surprise thing on the second one I'm all for but she kind of
00:57likes to know and I get that yeah as far as like planning and nursery and all
01:02that stuff makes it just a little bit easier and then the baby you know for
01:05nine months is a he or she or seven months whenever you find out is a he or
01:09she instead of it yeah like you're just a little more connected sounds weird yeah
01:13I know how are the kids doing with the baby they're doing they're doing well
01:17they're um they seem to be adjusting they're getting old enough now you know
01:21they're they'll just kind of go off and do their own thing and still they
01:25understand how they need to be gentle and not so rambunctious around the baby
01:29they're learning that but they're getting better at it so yeah we're all
01:32getting along well like you said three and three years I think what Lucy's like
01:35three and a half she's three now yeah so three under three has got to be what has
01:41been like the wildest thing about jumping from two to three um I think the you
01:45know with with like new baby and mama like new baby needing so much time with
01:52Hannah that I have to be the distraction for the other two kids so um you know
01:59I've I'm pretty good with them but it's been rare up to this point that I've had
02:04them really like just me without Hannah close by so all the little things like you
02:10know we see where where are your um like you know where where are your shirts or
02:15where where are your shoes you know all these little things that I Hannah's always
02:19doing like getting them dressed and that sort of thing I have to um now I kind of
02:24I needed to know these things but I have learned to learn how to manage on my own
02:29every dad has been where you are like where I remember my dad like I read like I need a
02:33ponytail my dad being like yeah I don't know where to start is we be able to like help
02:38you though through some of that stuff yeah she is actually I can ask her now and
02:42she can tell me where things are and um and how she likes things done you know
02:45which is you know another she's very particular about everything so I'm uh I
02:50try to be patient to some degree but she can be a little bit a little miss
02:55independent so I have to I'm having to find that line between accommodating her
03:00particularities and you know laying the law down because we got to get this we
03:04got to get these teeth brushed we certainly do and I know the last time we had
03:08talked you were saying like hopefully like in the next few years you could
03:11take a little bit of a break from touring I think kind of once they start
03:14to go to school is that still kind of your plan yeah yeah and figuring out where
03:18to land with school and like where we want to where we want to be exactly um I
03:23love where we are in middle Tennessee but in the back of my mind I've always
03:26thought you know when the kids are at a certain age do I want to move back to
03:29Georgia you know that's home my parents are down there um so we've got a couple
03:34years to figure that out you know because once they get going with school you don't
03:37want to move around too much so we're still working on that I feel like you
03:41have found at least from the outside looking in it seems like you have found
03:44a good balance of like releasing music touring and then having the time to be at
03:49home with them do you feel like you found that yes I do and and honestly the pace
03:54that I'm keeping with in terms of my music and touring now I was concerned that it
03:59wouldn't be enough to maintain you know the connection with the fans and the
04:04the ability to go out and play these venues that we've played in the past but
04:08it's been amazing to um you know to have fans that after 10 years um and hopefully
04:14we've made some new fans along the way but still come out to shows and um and you
04:19know even when maybe I haven't been to the city their city in two three years um or
04:24maybe I haven't put out as much music as some of the other artists on the radio
04:27but they they're still showing up so it really has uh given me some relief in
04:31terms of you know um the pace that I I've set or you know at least the uh my time
04:40and attention being able to give more of it to my family because my career it
04:45requires a little less because I've got this loyal dedicated fan base so yeah no
04:49that's amazing and I feel I talked to so many artists about this all the time like
04:52they're just trying to find a balance of like how to have this life and trace this
04:55chase this dream but also be home and like it's it is a hard thing to manage so
04:59I'm very happy to hear that you feel like you've got a grasp on it it's a good I'm
05:03in a good place so I feel really good about it that's great well let's talk
05:06about country house this song headed to the top of the charts talk about the
05:09story behind this song and the inspiration for it
05:11yeah it um this is one that um yeah when I started writing it I thought about my
05:17little cabin in the woods where I have lived for several years now you know we're
05:21about to outgrow it I love it so much it's rustic and and minimalistic but it's um I
05:27don't know how many square not a whole lot of space so poor wheezy who's three now is
05:32is living in a or sleeping in a um a little makeshift nursery it's not much of a
05:37nursery there's it's like a bad old it should be a bathroom but we've tried to
05:41convert it convert it into a comfortable little space but she's getting old enough
05:45now to where she she really needs to be sleeping somewhere other than this
05:48converted bathroom right like you said she's real particular she's yeah she's
05:53done well so far but yeah she deserves that and so um we're gonna have to figure
05:58out what to do because we're running out of space with with three um but we'll see
06:02yeah but yeah sorry but you asked about country so what did I ask you're writing
06:08it about that so about where we live now and um yeah and and just more of the
06:14lifestyle of of just being you know married with kids and and out in the
06:19woods and um and raising the kids and just content you know um and uh so that's
06:27that was sort of the inspiration behind the song I love I just started with the
06:31title just country house and a lot of songs start with just a phrase that you
06:35know I hear it or I see it written down and it just jumps out at me like it sort of
06:39screams like this is supposed to be a song as that's a part of your catalog so
06:44uh let's go and and um once I zero in on an idea like that I'll I'll um you know
06:50take the time to try to get the song right and um that's what that's kind of how
06:54this song came about are you one that like if it comes to you you've got to stop
06:57exactly what you're doing and like go write it down or like get through the idea
07:00or like can you hold on to it I can hold on to it um and kind of put it in a
07:05folder and um and then revisit it because even that song I probably looked
07:10at it two or three times to try to get the lyric dialed in just right but the
07:15vocal on I sang that vocal down on one of the early rights and um thinking you
07:20know this would be a placeholder but it it turned out to uh be the the final
07:24vocal a lot of times you know down the road you go back to try to sing a song
07:28that you started six months prior and you're not able to capture that feeling
07:32somehow that you felt when you first started the song when it was fresh on
07:35your mind so um yeah that that's the original vocal that I just kind of sang
07:39sitting there in the in the chair which typically you'd go into a booth and get
07:44everything just right and so um that's been the case with a lot of songs in the
07:48past there's something about that that demo quality that you can never really
07:53replicate when you go try to get too uh formal with the final production so yeah
07:59it's got that it feels that way though I think it feels simplistic and sort of
08:03off the cuff which is kind of a theme for me yeah my music no I think it's great
08:07and I really appreciate that you do that because nothing is worse than like when
08:10you hear something like ah this like this is a little overdone or something like
08:13it's great that you can just like recognize it and be like I don't need to
08:16perfect this it's perfect being imperfect yeah and like I would have never known
08:20that was a demo yeah it uh I mean it turned out I think the producer Michael
08:25Lotton did a great job on it but um but it it just it feels relaxed you know and
08:30it's meant to so I'm glad that hopefully that comes across for sure and then talk
08:35about Liberty that's like your latest release yeah that was um that song is so
08:39so for about two years I put out songs one at a time and that would be the last
08:44song of that batch of songs and um I thought about bundled bundling them up as an
08:49album you know even though they're all already out just for you know the future's sake
08:53looking back I can kind of categorize the different chapters but um yeah it's one
08:58that um I don't know that it blends in with the other songs I guess it fits in
09:03it's one that I wrote back in 2020 and never planned on putting out which I have
09:07quite a few songs that um that I'll write without thinking you know about my own
09:12project it's more of a therapy session and I'll just kind of get these songs out
09:16of my system and not worry about whether they'll ever go on a record or not and
09:20this was one of those um but um it's it's it's one that I I feel is a little
09:26more authentic in terms of coming from a place that's like I didn't have my
09:31national songwriter hat on when I wrote it so it uh it comes across a little more
09:36um like you know from me you know uh I guess then then from like songwriter me
09:44who's trying to make a puzzle that's cool it'll work for the fans and for radio so
09:49anyway will you you mentioned like you put out a few songs like every year here
09:54for the last couple of years and I think your last full-length album came out in
09:572020 so is that the next goal or is your goal to keep just like putting a couple
10:01songs out every year yeah it I would like to make a full album and put out a full
10:07album um there's something about that you can capture in a with an album you know
10:13the way like I feel like I was able to do that with my first album like like take
10:17take the time on the songs and then take the time in the studio within a short
10:21amount of time with the same guys and the same players and the same approach so
10:25that there's some continuity and um I'd really like to be able to do that and
10:28you know the folks who've supported us over the years have you know I hear from
10:33them a lot a lot of times that they want me to put out an album as opposed to
10:36singles and so and I understand where they're coming from with that and and I
10:40think they I owe them that so um I want to I want to I want to do that on this
10:45next project it's always wild to me like in my mind you have out five or six
10:49albums and it's like you have two complete albums but like I remember
10:53even thinking this when you sold out Madison Square Garden I was like Sam
10:55Hunt has Montvalo and that like not many people can say that at that point I'm
10:59so grateful for that album and the response because it um it still is the
11:03bedrock of everything I've been able to do since even to this day when we tour that
11:07that album really holds down our live set and it um it um yeah it's just the
11:15miles that I've been able to get out of that album I have really just been
11:19incredible for me that celebrated that was 10 year anniversary last year which
11:25sounds like a long time and not long enough to me and I'm sure you kind of
11:28feel the same way I know 10 years the idea of 10 years back when I put that album
11:33out I don't even think I you know I was 28 maybe and I was you know 10 years
11:39prior would have been 18 like that's huge difference and still a pretty big
11:43difference between you know how old I am now but um 10 years later I guess I was
11:4829 but um um yeah but a decade I can kind of wrap my head around a decade now it's um
11:55and it doesn't feel like that that long of a of an amount of time especially you
12:00know when I think about what I would have thought about 10 years back when I was in
12:03my 20s right it seemed like a lifetime I know right you celebrated your 40th in
12:08December was 40 easy for you or did you have a hard time with it
12:11yeah it was I think you know once I got into my 30s um it was you know clinging to
12:19youth didn't feel like something I needed to do it was almost like I can't wait to
12:24I feel like my my youth is gonna kill me I can't wait to like want to go home
12:28early and not stay out because I've got FOMO and I you know I'm gonna miss the
12:32hang tonight so um and just being content and at peace on all fronts because that
12:39that youthful frenetic energy can be great for getting things done but you
12:43know when you get a little older you want some peace stability routine and uh so
12:48that's I've been able to find a lot more of that that's great it feels like that I
12:52feel like I hear that in the music I also like feel like visually like I mean I
12:55feel like you've got like this new look like all this like even in this photo I'm
12:58like you look like you're in like a barber ad but yeah I know I've I think I
13:01was telling somebody this morning I think it's my final form I've uh
13:04experimented with different looks over the years but um you know inevitably I
13:09was going to turn into my dad you know so I think that day has finally come it
13:14happens to everyone at some point in time and you're like this is it yeah that's
13:18right it was so funny I was looking back at like old interview clips getting ready
13:22for this and I was cracking up because I had asked you a question about have you
13:26ever been mistaken for another celebrity and at the time you said Travis Kelsey
13:29and at that moment I had like no idea who that was and it was been so funny and I
13:34was like I'm curious if you are getting that more now because he's more visual
13:37yeah I have well I haven't gotten that in a while um but yeah I feel like all of a
13:43sudden in the last two years you see him everywhere right um yeah and I've I've
13:48changed my you know he kind of has that um that I don't know what you would call
13:54it the style street style a little bit it's got a real vibey street style and I've
13:59kind of you know I don't want to say evolve it sounds like that's a less evolved
14:03way to dress but I've just I'm in a different chapter of life uh and um and so
14:09I think the I think it has a lot to do with the clean cut beard the lines and the
14:14and the outfits the baggy clothes and the Jordans and all that so um maybe that's
14:19why I don't get it quite as much for sure well song headed to the top of the
14:23charts I know you said you're you know thinking about this next project are you
14:25writing for this next project yet like do you feel like you've taken direction
14:29for it yeah I have um I made a point to write before the baby got here in March
14:34and April and was able to make some progress and um had to kind of have to
14:39turn it off when I tour I just burn myself out if I try to do both but um this
14:44fall I'm gonna give another chunk chunk of time to to the project and then do the
14:49same thing in the spring of next year and I'm hoping by then I'll have you know
14:52close to an album I'd say I'm halfway through right now do you feel like it
14:56has a direction or you kind of like know what the tone of the album will be yeah
14:59I think so it um it feels like the next chapter I think just thematically and
15:05just the approach the only the one component I've got to figure out
15:08production-wise what to do next um I'm at a point where I'd like to you know I
15:15don't know if involves the right word but to lean into a more uh organic sound so
15:20I'm trying to decide like how how important is some of the musical elements I've used in
15:24the past how important is that to the sound going forward you know you don't want to break
15:29with what has gotten you here you know but at the same time you know that youthful sound
15:36you know I don't want to be the old guy trying to do the the young thing so I've got to find
15:40that'll be my next I think um adventure is is uh not necessarily the songs but the how to
15:47record them what they should sound like yeah well I'm excited to hear that always such a big fan
15:51of whatever you're working on what about rest of 2025 we're over the halfway mark now like what are
15:55you most excited about that you got coming up or looking forward to uh I've got a couple for years
16:01I'm so unorganized I've wanted to take time to take a couple trips with my parents and the kids
16:09and my brothers and their kids so I have been like Mr. Party Mr. Trip Planner this year
16:15like really I've taken the time to like all right I'm gonna book these this this place this trip
16:20for whatever eight ten days and um if y'all can make it come on I'm just gonna make them make it
16:27available and so luckily my um we're all going on a trip uh early August and then this fall we've got
16:32another trip out west that we're gonna do so I've been putting vacations off forever and it's just time
16:38to start living a little bit you know how has it been planning a trip for this many people
16:43uh I've done a poor job I probably should have uh hired hired somebody to help with that but um
16:51uh you know I stayed on we're going to uh Sea Island Georgia where I might have a family down
16:57there so um I'm familiar with that area and it's not too far from everybody so I try to keep it easy
17:03and accessible and um familiar nothing too crazy so yeah I've got everybody on board right now that'll
17:10be really fun Sam and that'll be like really special summer memories and like you said it's
17:14hard to make the time for that but it is so important especially with like the age the kids
17:17are at now yeah you gotta just do it or else it won't get done and we you know every Christmas we're
17:21like all right this year we're gonna do it and that's five years in a row and nothing so yeah
17:25finally taking the initiative well good for you thank you so much for coming in to see us so happy to
17:29see the song doing well and happy to like excited to hear what you're working on next I appreciate it
17:33Sam Hunt thank you thanks for having me
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