With a pair of hits on the charts, Hunter Hayes has become one of country music's biggest and most talented newcomers. Working with Dann Huff for his self-titled Atlantic Records debut, he played 30 instruments, just one of the many things the 2012 ACM Best New Artist nominee talks about in this exclusive feature.
Last year we selected a 19-year-old Hunter Hayes to be one of our Ones To Watch in 2011 and Hunter certainly proved our prognostication correct by not only releasing a single to radio but getting to tour with Taylor Swift for his very first tour, before his single was even known by that many people. He then rounded out 2011 by releasing Hunter Hayes on Atlantic Records while also packing clubs and venues around the country on his first solo tour, the Most Wanted Tour. Hunter is currently inside the Top 15 at country radio with debut single “Storm Warning” and out on the road with Rascal Flatts.
We recently had the chance to speak with Hunter about his beginnings, the making of his album with platinum producer of the stars Dann Huff and much more. Get to know Hunter Hayes here.
Matt Bjorke: Do you think it’d be right to say that like Andre Agassi in tennis or Tiger Woods in Golf, that you were born to play music for people?
Hunter Hayes: I can certainly agree with the fact that I was born to do it. I have lived to play music for basically every day that I’ve lived. I’m also really lucky to have found it while I was so young because there are many people who spend years of their life working before they figure out what they love. So, I’m very lucky as a kid to have found what I loved to do and two to be young enough to know that I couldn’t either.
Matt: and you have family that didn’t either…
Hunter: Right, I’m very lucky to have such a supportive family. But I can certainly appreciate the fact that I was born for it because I can’t live without it.
Matt: I was lucky enough to come to music and knew that’s what I wanted to do in high school…
Hunter: That’s when I made it my best friend, in High School.
Matt: What was the first instrument you learned how to play?
Hunter: Growing up in Louisiana, I was given a toy accordion when I was two years old by my grandmother. I learned to play that and I wanted to learn as many things as I could, as many instruments as I could. I wanted all of my time to be spent with music and at the time that was the only way I could think of to be able to do that. I was given a drum set when I was five years old, not sure what my parents were thinking at the time, bless their hearts…
Matt: Yeah, ‘cause not many parents would ever consider something like that voluntarily…
Hunter…You would think that. But the rules were I had to wear ear plugs and stop when the sun went down.
Matt: Those were the rules...So I read you got your first guitar from Robert Duvall. That’s not something that everyone can say…
Hunter: Yeah, he had dropped by a restaurant that I was sitting in with the band, I was five, and he invited me out to have a cameo role in one of his films he was making, a church scene. and I got to play the accordion during the film (a song called “Victory’s Mine”). So he came down to my sixth year birthday party. He had a black sammack guitar with a small matching amp and I got to have Robert Duvall at my sixth birthday party.
Matt: and that began your love affair with the guitar…
Hunter: Absolutely, after that, that was all I really wanted to play…
Matt: How many other instruments can you play?
Hunter: Well, for the record we counted that I played 30. And that to me means that I had 30 instruments at my disposal in the studio. Some of them I was more familiar than with others and some others I learned how to play on the spot, with the red (recording) light on. Dann Huff has a lot of interesting instruments that you’ve never heard of and brought a lot of gear into the studio.
Matt: Well, he’s a gear kind of guy….
Hunter: Yeah, for sure. We sort of opened to the doors to the studio and booked it for two months and had gear spread out all over the studio. It was creative freedom like no other. If I had been given the opportunity to just be the co-producer with Dann Huff, which I obviously was because I played everything on it, it went together. If I had just worked with Dann Huff, who has made some of my favorite records of all time, and the musicians here, I would’ve been so shy and so scared to say anything and wouldn’t have voiced my opinion like I did so I am glad we did this record this way because it allowed me to be me.
Matt: How long was it before you signed your first publishing deal?
Hunter: Well, I moved to (Nashville) with the publishing deal sort of in the works. Before that I had been coming to Nashville at least once a month, every weekend or every Monday and Friday I had off at school – my Mom is a school teacher and my Dad had a boss that would allow him off whenever he could so we came here quite a bit before and we had already been talking with the folks that became the team (his publisher, manager, etc). I decided to move because it was my senior year and we found a class that would allow me to finish off my senior year in two months during the summer. So when I would’ve normally been starting my senior year, I was able to start writing all the time. It took about a year for my publishing deal to be finalized and it was kind of a slow process but once we moved here with everything in the works. You’d have to get to know my family, we’re pretty cautious about everything.
Matt: That’s the best way to do it, to be careful and cautious and to not sign the first thing that comes your way. There are lots of horror stories about such things…
Hunter: Yeah and I had a lot of great guidance. When I moved here, I met a lot of great people. My manager is certainly one of those people who care about me, not just my career and music.
Matt: So it had to be cool for you to get a song placed Rascal Flatts most recent album Nothing Like This…
Hunter: Yeah, and what’s funny is that I wrote [“Play”] for me, to be my first single. It was going to be so many things and it was written so early on. I joked to my publisher saying, “hey, this would be a great song for the Flatts record.” Two weeks later I got a very movie-esque phone call and she said “Here’s the deal, the band is cutting a new record and we’re going to pitch it.” And then it was the guys like it and then it was Dann Huff liked it and then it was they’re gonna cut it. It took a while, sort of a year and a half process, but it made it onto the record…
Matt: And now that record (Nothing Like This) is platinum…
Hunter: Yeah, it was a good decision, I think (laughs). It was super cool because not only was it my first cut by a big band but they also made a record that I lived by in high school. Me and My Gang was a record that I played every day and sang along to every day. So then I got to see them play it live on David Letterman’s show.
Matt: How did you come to the attention of Atlantic Records and Warner Nashville?
Hunter: It goes back to moving to town and meeting people who were true fans and really believed in me. It’s not an overnight process and I knew that when I moved here with my family. I think even over night is a 3 year process. I was lucky enough to meet people who believed right away. And I’m glad that it did because I never had the moment to doubt myself and looking back it was quick…
Matt: How much fun was it for you to work in the studio with Dann Huff for your debut album?
Hunter: It was huge fun. It took a while to get used to it though. First of all, I’m a huge fan and he’s a musical hero. Second of all, it was a new process for both of us. I’d never worked with someone like him and he’d never worked with just one person in the room. My manager said it was sort of “Building a factory to build a product.” It took us about three weeks to make “Storm Warning,” alone.
We then spent a total of about six months to make the entire record. That’s a lot of time and it wasn’t just a couple hours a day. Dann would get there at 10 and I’d get there at about 10:30. Dann would go home about 5 pm and I’d stay until about 2-3 in the morning, that way when he walked in the next morning, I’d have something to play for him and we’d go from there.
It was a blast after we got used to it and we were like family. What’s weird is that I had still saw him as that hero but at the same time in order to make the record we wanted to make, we had to really co-produce and have conversations about the process. It was fantastic and I now have considered that I’ve gotten to go to a Music College of sorts, just by working with him and I really learned a lot. It was a beautiful, beautiful process and I hope that I get to do it again.
Matt: Your debut single "Storm Warning" continues to climb the radio charts. How amazing is it to see your song up there with all the current stars in country music?
Hunter: It's unbelievable. Just this morning my friend was showing me the charts and it's sort of like looking at something that’s photoshopped because it's something I've always WANTED to see but never thought I'd get to!!
Matt: You recently were announced as one of the three finalists for the ACM Awards Best New Artist award. What does it mean for you to be recognized so soon and to have it be a fan-voted award?
Hunter: It's an honor. I'm honored that the community I've looked up to and studied for so long has acknowledged me in this way. It's a dream to be in the running for an award like this. I love that it's a fan-voted nomination and so thankful to our fans for the phenomenal support! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Matt: How much fun are you having playing the music out on the road, especially now that they can buy the music?
Hunter: Well, I’ve been pretty spoiled by getting to do my own club tour and before that I got to go out on tour with Taylor last summer (of 2011). It’s mind boggling. You start out as a new artist on your first single, first tour, arenas…with Taylor Swift? How can it get any better?
Matt: Yeah, she’s been known to hear one song and go, “let’s get them out on tour with us.”
Hunter: Yeah, and now it’s really cool to move from that to this Most Wanted Tour where I get to headline really cool rooms, like the theater that I used to play on as a kid and now we’re selling-it out. It’s moments like that that are really cool because these shows, the fans are singing along to every track every night. It is unbelievable that it happens…
Matt: I can see that because when you played the show at 12th and Porter for CMT, I was around a group of fans who were singing along to every word at that event. I got to see it firsthand…
Hunter: It’s mind boggling to see it happening for songs off of the record. Yeah, I had made it to be listened to that way but you never think it’s gonna work that well. So it’s amazing to see them singing along to songs I wrote when I was 15, “What You Gonna Do When I’m Gone,” so it’s been a treat.
Matt: You’ve now been out on tour with Rascal Flatts. How great has this experience been for you?
Hunter: It's been awesome. My only arena touring experiences have been with Taylor and The Flatts. Getting to do these size rooms again with this many people with my band this time is great. I'm learning a whole new list of things from just being on these stages every night. The Flatts guys are awesome. They've made it so much fun and made me feel at home. The Flatts FANS are really fantastic!
Matt: We recently did an article where we paired songs from other genres to country artists. We chose John Mayer’s “No Such Thing” for you but had a few others in mind. Would you ever consider cutting another artist’s song for a future album (or even as a special edition part of a CD?)
Hunter: Absolutely. I’m finding out what ‘cover’ means to me. There are several reasons to do a ‘cover.’ For me, I do some of them in my show because that’s my chance to say, ‘thank you for buying my record’ but oh by the way, I’m listening to the same stuff you listen to or ‘your influences are my influences.’ Also, what I love about some covers, I like taking some songs and make it my own.
Matt: How has social media helped you build awareness for your music?
Hunter: In every way you can imagine. We found an outlet to use one of my geeky hobbies, which is filmmaking and I’ve shared that with fans. It’s kind of fun to be able to keep in contact with fans on a daily basis. It’s something everyone is now comfortable. What is now part of everyone’s everyday life, an artist has an ability to contact with a fan and the fans have the ability to find artists. I feel like it’s a great anchor, to keep in contact with kids.
Matt: What are your goals for 2012?
Hunter - More music! I’m really pumped about continuing our "Most Wanted" tour and I’m thrilled at how well that's been going. Basically, just more touring in general. I'm really looking forward to more shows and meeting more people!
Matt: If you had to describe country music with one word, what would that word be? Feel free to explain.
Hunter: I’m gonna steal the word from someone else because they hit the nail on the head. Real. There’s no other way around it. Yes, you find real content in other music but country’s the only place where you can always go to to hear about your life. No, as a kid, I didn’t know about love but it’s what I always came back to in high school. There’s no fantasy to it. My goal is to write songs that I love. I can put on a song like “What Hurts The Most” and I can feel like I own it. It’s mine, I own it. There’s no walls for me or the guy singing it because it’s my song.
Matt: Yeah, and for one of the songwriters, the song morphed into something different from the song.
Hunter: Yeah, I think that most country songs, you could write a movie about it and it’d work.
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