Sam Hunt Congrats Michael Ray

It’s not easy to have a #1 with your debut single.  This week’s co-host Sam Hunt did it last year with “Leave The Night On.”  He got a chance to congratulate Michael Ray, who tops the chart this week with “Kiss You In The Morning.”  It happened during Country Countdown USA With Lon Helton.  As it turned out, Sam & Michael were actually doing a show together that day.  But they’ve known each other for over a year, according to Sam:

Sam said, “We met one night in Nashville, and I had a show the next day in Rome Georgia.  Michael didn’t have anything going on, so I said, ‘Do you want to jump in with us and ride down to Georgia? You’ll be back in a couple days.’  He was all for it, so we picked him up in a little 4Runner, there were six of us packed in there, we all rode down to Georgia.  Michael came on stage and sang a couple songs with me, and from that day on I was a big fan of him and his music.”

So Michael, where were you when you got the news that you had the #1 song in the USA? “I was in New York, got an unofficial call on Friday, but at 11:30 Saturday I got a text from the head of my label saying ‘Congratulations, man, you officially have the #1 song in the country.’  I was just blown away, because you watch all these other artists that you respect, and look at a chart you’ve seen your whole life, and be on the countdown that you’ve listened to getting ready for church, and now to be ON it is just mind-blowing.”

Michael, tell me about the song Kiss You In The Morning: “When you’re listening to songs, some stand out from others, and this one always stood out.  I loved the way some of the lines were used.  I knew once we got into the studio we could make it bigger.  So we let the musicians do their thing, and it grew from there.

Tags: Michael Ray, sam hunt

Category: Audio