RADIO.COM's Katie Neal welcomed singer Sam Hunt to our airwaves as this week’s co-host for the Superstar Power Hour on all your favorite RADIO.COM Country stations nationwide.
You may not recognize him without his signature bushy beard -- Sam barely recognizes himself, he tells Katie -- but don't worry, it is indeed him!
Listen to your favorite Country music now on RADIO.COM.
Sam's new look comes following a photoshoot, which he says are not really his cup of tea, but he needed to have new pictures taken for promotional reasons. Towards the end of the shoot, he had the idea to shave off his whiskers in order to get a different look.
"We did several pictures, shaved my beard, went out and took like two ," he explained. "I looked at the monitor and I was like, 'alright, we're good! I think we got some for the road.' I was just so white and cooped up in the house for months and months," he laughed.
The Southside singer says he's made a point in the new year to get himself into a routine, and more importantly stick to it. "So far, so good," he says. "I've just been getting my day-to-day in order, eating healthier, work, trying to work out, and shake off 2020. The next chapter will be getting back in the studio and trying to write."
"We're going to take a little retreat down to Florida in the beginning of March and write for the whole month. So, I'm excited about that. I've been getting ideas ready for that trip."
Related
Aside from last year's performance at Red Rocks, Sam dropped his latest single, "Breaking Up Was Easy in the '90s" in October and has been getting in some quality time with the family during the pause in touring.
"I tried to make the most of the downtime," he says of his time off the road. "I was able to come up with a few songs that started to feel like the beginning of a record, and then kind of took a pause for Christmas break."
Sam, a former quarterback, was also most certainly watching this year's big game between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes -- at least that's how he saw the match up. Not historically a fan of teams, Sam says he tuned in and was rooting for Brady to come out on top.
"Now I'm planning on hopefully finishing the record or getting closer to having a full record by late spring," he admits.
His latest single "Breaking Up Was Easy in the '90s" just made it onto his album Southside released in early 2020 also featuring the hits "Body Like A Back Road," and "Kinsfolk."
"Usually I like to write my own ideas for my records because I typically pull them from life in some capacity, but this was an idea that my buddy Josh Osborne had," he says of the new track. "Sometimes you'll have an idea and you don't know whether it's going to work out or not until you write the song. But this was an idea that I had pretty well decided was going to go on the record, even before we wrote the song. So, I was just holding it 'til the ninth hour and we ended up writing that song just maybe a few weeks before putting out the record."
Hunt's very first number 1 single, 2014's "Leave The Night On," has steadily been a fan favorite over his career. He remembers being in Minneapolis when first hearing his song on the radio, but as for where he was when it went to the top of the chart, he's unsure. What he does remember is the sheer excitement he felt after a grueling six month period from its release to hit the top chart position.
"I try not to check the charts too often and stress myself out, or get too worried about it," Sam says. "But I remember it being really cool early on looking at the charts and seeing all the names that had been on the radio for years and artists that I'd grown up listening to. Being right there in the mix with those guys, I remember that really putting it into perspective. To see those names, and then to see my name right up there with those guys and girls."
Humbly, Sam says that he didn't make any major purchases after getting the big news. As long as a car gets him from point A to point B, he's happy. There was one way that he let himself celebrate, however. "When I went out to restaurants," he admits, "I did not fret the bill!"
Listen to the full interview with Sam and Katie above and tune in every week to the Superstar Power Hour with Katie & Company on your favorite RADIO.COM Country stations.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram