Paisley Influenced Hunter Hayes

Today, Hunter Hayes is a Grammy-nominated country star.  But more than 10 years ago, he was a kid who just loved to play music.  There is a video with Hunter at age 4 playing an accordian with Hank Williams Jr.  But he played with many others.  When Brad Paisley co-hosted Country Countdown USA, he told Lon Helton he first met Hunter in 2000: “He used to sit in with us when he was 10 when we’d play in Louisiana.  I have pictures of him on stage with us as a tiny kid.  It was shocking to me when I found out Hunter Hayes was the same kid.  Cause I didn’t remember.  We’re old friends.  It’s fun to have him be a part of things.”

Just a couple weeks ago, the two reunited in Brad’s Nashville recording studio, where Hunter played and sang harmony on Brad’s new album, “Wheelhouse.”  Hunter cites Brad as an influence, and Brad says it led for an interesting moment in the studio: “What’s funny for me is to have him play guitar in my studio, and he’s trying to find his part in this song, and he says, ‘My instinct is to do this, but that’s what you do, isn’t it.  That would be my instinct but I can’t do that because I got that from you, so I can’t do that.’”

LISTEN: 13-05 Brad4

Tags: Brad, hunter

Category: Audio