Sam Hunt isn’t your traditional country artist. For one thing, he doesn’t dress the part. His musical style is also different, as he incorporates country, R&B and pop into his music and mixes speaking and rapid-fire singing into his delivery. He’s the hottest singer in country music at the moment and it is easy to see why. Since Sam’s birthday was just the other day, let’s take a look at 10 things you didn’t know about Sam Hunt:
10. Influences
His album Montevallo was named after the hometown of a former girlfriend, Hannah Lee Fowler. According to him, she really influenced the album. “I spent a lot of time talking to her about the songs and asking, ‘What do you think about this?’” he said. “Her perspective was a powerful part of me being able to connect with a female audience, not just a male audience.”
2
9. Quarterback
He was a starting quarterback for Middle Tennessee State University’s football team for two years, before he transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s football team. At UAB, he was also a starting quarterback.
3
8. University Educated
He has a business degree in economics from UAB. He was initially going to major in philosophy.
4
7. Learning the Guitar
When he was 18, he bought his first guitar at a pawnshop in his hometown. During his time at UAB, he taught himself how to play it. After learning a few songs from other artists, he got bored and decided to start writing his own songs.
5
6. Songwriter
He co-wrote Kenny Chesney’s 2012 hit “Come Over” and Keith Urban’s song “Cop Car” and Billy Currington’s “We are Tonight.” For “Come Over,” he received an ASCAP award.
6
5. Trying out for the NFL
After graduating college, he got the attention of the NFL and was invited to training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs. Unfortunately, he failed to impress them and nothing materialized. This was when he decided to move to Nashville.
7
4. Budding Songwriter
He has been writing songs since he was 18, but no one in his family knew about this so, when he told them he was going to move to Nashville after he graduated from university, they were all shocked.
8
3. Musical Style
When he writes songs, he doesn’t do it with a specific genre in mind and instead follows his instincts.
9
2. Mixtape
In 2013, before he released Montevallo, he released an independent album, Between the Pines, an acoustic mixtape which featured 15 acoustic tracks, on his website. Seven of the songs appear on Montevallo.
10
1. Performance Issues
When he first started performing, he toured with two guitarists and a laptop because he couldn’t afford a drummer. The computer would spit out beats while he sang and he did encounter some hiccups. Sometimes his laptop would freeze and at other times Skype or a Facebook update would interrupt his performance.