Boston means something to Sam Hunt. Boston is where Sam and his band played their first show together. It was last September at the House of Blues, and Sam Hunt was part of the lineup for Country Strikes Out ALS; a benefit concert in support of Pete Frates. “It was the first show we ever played together, Tyrone, Josh, and I and it definitely has a special place in our hearts. It’s always special to come back to Boston.”
What started out as a hobby for Sam has translated into him becoming both a hit songwriter and one of country music’s biggest new artists. It wasn’t until Sam graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham that he realized he wanted a career in music. “I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to do in the music business, but I was real interested in finding out what my options were. I moved to Nashville after graduating without knowing what I wanted to get into and the songwriting area was the first thing I discovered. When I discovered the opportunities in the songwriting world, that was as exciting to me as making my own record, and touring so I really wanted to hone that in first and that’s what I spent the first few years in Nashville doing.”
Sam formed relationships with other musicians and songwriters in Nashville, ‘guys who had been doing it a lot longer than he had’ and that evolved into him writing with guys who made tracks. He clicked with one songwriter and producer in particular, Zach Crowell, and it was with Zach that Sam developed his craft. “He (Zach) makes tracks and I’ll go into a vocal booth and just sing and freestyle lyrics and melodies and he can record those, and I’ll listen to the cool parts and add to it. We spend a lot of time together; we’re like best buddies so I think that helps our writing relationship. He’s willing to help; it’s more of a personal thing with him. We’re constantly talking out lyrics and ideas for specific songs, but also working on production and sounds, and drum beats and all different elements. It’s a lot more in depth than normal. We’re way more invested in it personally.”
That personal investment is evident in Sam’s music. The storytelling in his lyrics, the beats, and the melodies all blend together for a unique sound that has helped his career jump to the next level since he signed a record deal with MCA Universal. Not only is the investment apparent in his recorded music but if you have seen Sam perform live with his band, it feels as if you get an inside look of Sam Hunt as an artist.
The relationship with Sam and his band started out with them being roommates before becoming a band. The same goes for Sam’s tour manager, who grew up with Sam in Cedartown, Georgia. “The other guys (Tyrone, Josh, and Josh) were great musicians, and I met them over the last couple of years prior to becoming a band and getting out on the road. It was very organic and almost fate to have those guys around. It’s part of our brand. Personally, how I like to operate in life is to not treat this as a business but to treat it like a family. These relationships are real, they’re going to be there when we’re playing together or if we’re just hanging out doing something, and it’s important to the whole thing.”
There are multiple parts of being a successful country artist. There are the live performances, the production of the songs in the studio, and then there’s the songwriting. When Sam Hunt released ‘Montevallo,’ all ten tracks on the album were co-written by Hunt himself. “I have a connection with all of them in a different way,” explained Hunt when asked if there was a favorite track from the album. Of the ten tracks on the album, Sam said ‘Breakup in a Small Town’ was the trickiest to write for him. “I took the most time on it and I didn’t know if I was ever going to get those verses right. I worked with my buddies Zach Crowell and Shane McAnally on it and eventually wrestled it down and got it to where I felt where it needed to be, so I obviously am proud of that song.” ‘Single for the Summer’ was another song Hunt liked the end result of. It was a song he started writing a few years ago, “in the ninth hour before the record was due it came back up and I finished it a couple of weeks before I had to turn the record in and that’s another one that turned out cool.”
When ‘Montevallo’ was released on October 27th, Sam Hunt claimed both the week’s best-selling country album, and the most played country song with ‘Leave the Night On.’ The debut album sold almost 70,000 copies in its first week. It was also in the same time frame Hunt received the news that ‘Leave the Night On’ had been certified as platinum. When asked if all of this had really sunk in, Sam laughed and replied with a simple, “No.” He went into further detail, “it has been a whirlwind, I’ve tried to stop and smell the roses as much as I can as far as appreciating what’s happening, and what it really means in terms of where I started and where I am now and where I’ll hopefully go, but it’s really hard to wrap my head around what’s been happening.”
Riding on all of his success, Hunt announced his first headlining tour, one that makes a stop in Boston in February. Before our interview, it was New England Country Music that broke the news to Sam that he had sold out the House of Blues earlier in the day. “It feels great,” explained Hunt when we asked about the sell outs he had for the tour (he had fifteen, for the record). “In the beginning, when you’re sitting in a room to write a song you hope somehow that song can make someone feel the way you feel when you listen to the music you love. You know what it does to them, what music does for you as a listener, for me as a listener. The best indication to me is when the fans have been exposed to the music, they’ve lived with it, and they hear you’re coming to play a show and they want to come see you play live. That means the most to me, to have people that enthusiastic about coming out to see the live shows. It’s another one of those things I can’t wrap my head around yet, I do realize how cool it is. It’s definitely the most special part of the whole deal.”
It’s the live shows where Sam can see how much his fan base has grown. “You see more and more people coming out, and you experience their passion and enthusiasm they have when they’re singing the songs back, and having a good time with us at the live show. That’s the one place where I can really get a sense for the growth of the whole thing.”
Since some of the New England Country Music staff saw Sam Hunt last September, we can’t help but feel a sense of pride for all that he’s accomplished in the time frame. It’s been fun seeing his development as a country artist and we’re already looking forward to February 12th when Sam and his crew are back in Boston.