Hunter Hayes has been making music since he was a toddler. He appeared on the Rosie O’Donnell Show at age 4; sang for President Clinton at 7; and was on America’s Most Talented Kid at 13. By his late teens, he had moved to Nashville, signed with Universal Music Publishing Group as a songwriter, and began working on his 2011 eponymous debut album, on which he played every instrument. The album spawned his first number-one single, “Wanted.”
In the past decade, Hayes has earned five Grammy nominations, been touted as the “leader of country music’s youth revolution” by Billboard magazine, and recorded three more albums, the latest of which is Wild Blue Part I, a musically dynamic, genre-blending effort that reconfirms Hayes as a gifted melody maker and deft lyricist. Hayes is coming to town to headline the Santa Barbara Country Music Festival on September 8, at the S.B. Polo and Racquet Club. I recently spoke over the phone with the singer/songwriter, who was in an Iowa field at an antique airshow, the buzz of bygone flying machines peppering our conversation.
Wild Blue feels like mix of genres. Was it just a natural progression of the kind music you wanted to explore? It was a very natural progression. In fact I think the milestones for me making this record were … [that the songs] highlight the process of undoing filters, and undoing guidelines and rules. One of the things I’m most proud of was the standpoint that I took in order to actually start this album … this was a complete reset. This was me saying to myself, “I want to just start over and make a record as if no one’s ever going to hear it,” because that allows you to work in a totally different headspace. I did most of it at my house so I didn’t have to go through due process to track anything. It was a very open and honest conversation with the world … It was like writing a journal versus writing an album. … It was very therapeutic; there’s no question.