Home » New To Top 30: Sam Hunt

New To Top 30: Sam Hunt

countdown | August 23, 2014

If you’ve heard the #1 hits “We Are Tonight” by Billy Currington, “Cop Car” by Keith Urban, or “Come Over” by Kenny Chesney, then you’ve already heard Sam Hunt. That’s because Sam wrote those songs. Now he has the chance to sing his own music. His debut song, “Leave The Night On” is in this week’s Top 30. We sat down with Sam to talk about his music and his life.

First of all, how did this happen so fast? I wanted to make a record eventually, but making a record takes a lot of time. So we started last summer, and made the songs available for free, and that started the buzz that now has had a lot to do with my name getting out.

How did you start writing songs? I’ve always been a big fan of songs and country songwriting. But I never was a player, I never played an instrument. I had a buddy buy a guitar, so I bought one too, and I started to play, and started making up lyrics. It was mainly for fun, but as it developed, I became interested in finding ways to expand that, and that’s when I moved to Nashville.

You played football in college, and even got a tryout with the Kansas City Chiefs. So why did you make the move to Nashville? As humans, we all crave a sense of purpose, and do something that fulfills us, and bring fulfillment to other people. I finished college, football was a fading opportunity, didn’t know what I wanted to do, was passionate about music, and thought going to Nashville was something I could do. If I hadn’t been so naïve, I might not have done it. I like the uncertainty of trying new things. It was exciting, kept me working hard staying busy, and it kept me on the straight and narrow.

Talk about writing “Leave The Night On:” That song was one of the first songs we wrote that I felt like really started to hone in on what I wanted to do as an artist. In the end, when we finished the album, it seemed like a good first single, it represents the whole album, and is a good uptempo introduction to who I am.

You just released a 4-song EP last week called X2C. Tell me about the title song: The song itself is three words: Ex To See, and that’s an idea that I’m surprised hasn’t been written, it’s a play on words, the chorus is “You don’t want me, you just want your ex to see.” It’s fun to play live, wanted to put it on the record, and the X2C is sort of mysterious, just a curiosity builder for the first album preview.

You’ve spent the past few years as a songwriter, but now you’re an artist. How is this experience different? It’s similar because I was so passionate about songwriting. I didn’t move to Nashville with dreams of becoming a big star. I just wanted to write songs and not have to get a second job. The artist thing gave me the chance to put out more songs, because getting cuts by others is so hard to do. Having a song as an artists, when it’s successful, it ensures you’ll get another shot. With this record, I’ll be able to put out ten songs to the public.

What was the first experience like hearing your voice on the radio? It was cool, but the biggest moment was having a song I’d written on the radio. Maybe that’s because it was my first experience with radio in general. You can only have the first time once. That was wild for me. Since then, I’ve enjoyed it as much. I don’t necessarily enjoy hearing my own voice as much as I enjoy the song itself.

You incorporate a lot of rhythmic elements in your music. Explain that: It wasn’t intentional, because when you write a country song, you block out other genres of music. But I naturally phrase in that style of music. That kind of cadence has been in country music, Conway Twitty and others did it. I was just doing it one day, and the people I was writing with encouraged me to put it in a song. It opened a door to a whole style of what I’m doing. I get wordy with lyrics, so it allows me to put more words in a song.

What was the tipping point for you? I think the tipping point was a style change in the way I was writing songs. I was so naïve about writing, I thought everyone knew more than me. At some point, you have to stick your neck out and take a chance. That’s where I started writing the ideas that hadn’t been as well received. That allowed us to experiment outside the box enough to know where we can come back and find the lines.

Sam Hunt’s 4-song EP is called X2C. His debut album, “Montevallo,” will be released on October 27.