Hunter Hayes
'Encore' was an experiment. 'Encore' was the second chance at a first impression. 'Encore' was not completely planned.Collection: Chance
I've always been shy, but I see that as a good thing because it kept me focused on music. When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies and I'd say, 'I'm gonna finish a couple of demos.'Collection: Christmas
When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies and I'd say, 'I'm gonna finish a couple of demos.'Collection: Christmas
Robert Duvall saw me playing at a restaurant in Louisiana and invited me to be an extra in his movie 'The Apostle.' He gave me a guitar for my sixth birthday, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.Collection: Birthday
Growing up in Louisiana, my grandmother gave me an accordion because of our Cajun heritage. What ended up happening was I started learning about more instruments, so I just kind of went that route. Music's really all I've ever done.Collection: Learning
I am blessed beyond belief.
I believe when you meet the right person it clicks, and you both know and you start making it work, you know?
I love flying planes.
I just love music gear, I'm a total geek all around.
I want to find someone who's really into something like I'm really into something, so that I can support them and we can both cheer each other on. I've got a lot of dreams I want to achieve, and I hope someone can cheer me on as I'll cheer them on in their dreams.
I grew up in a fun-loving environment - you work hard and play hard.
If I could make noise with anything, I was going to.
All the people I hung out with were musicians.
I was addicted to playing music.
All my band members were old enough to be my dad. It was like this family vibe.
Thank you to country radio for believing in me.
When I was in high school, I had binders with pictures of tour buses.
I'm in my dream world.
There is a bit of a movement as far as younger people in country music. That is cool because people are saying things like, 'I didn't listen to country music until so-and-so came along.' And I'm like, 'Yeah! Now you know why I love it.'
Yes, I did lock myself in my room for about two years and write some songs and things like that. But I don't feel like I missed out on a whole lot.
All I knew when I moved to Nashville was that I wanted to make music in whatever shape and form I could.
I wrote my first song at 6. I spent every day with the guitar, and I just made up songs.
I always loved LeAnn Rimes and especially Clint Black for his soulfulness. As I've gotten older, my influences have broadened - John Mayer, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Beatles - all of these artists have somehow been a part of my development as a songwriter.
I hope people half my age and twice my age will listen to my music - I want it to live forever and for my audience to feel like they have a friend in my music. Music is a spirit. It heals. It's an amazing thing to be loved and appreciated, and sometimes, music has not just been my best friend, it's been my only friend.
I want people to say about me, 'I know he's making music because he loves it.'
My mom makes the best Cajun stuff. I'm a big gumbo guy. I've lost a lot of my Louisiana accent, so now when I say 'gumbo,' I feel like someone who's never said the word before.
Meeting Stevie Wonder was a massive, lifetime achievement for me. He's one of the sweetest people. I sense a kindred spirit in him, and I hope he'd say the same. Actually, he did.
'Wanted' is about a girl I was friends with, but at the time it was teetering on the edge of something more. I wanted to show her that I really cared about her. 'Wanted' was my way of saying, 'we're friends and have a great foundation, and this could be something really special.'
I don't have a girlfriend. I don't know if I have a type, but I really like girls who are driven. I really care about music, so I like it when a girl really cares about something too. Whatever it is they are into, I'll be their biggest fan.
Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it - some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to find somewhere for a bluesy guitar sound, because that's also what I love. Musically, I'm always finding my way home.
The stage is my comfort zone, and playing live is what I've always wanted to do. It's why I want to do two hundred dates a year. I wouldn't feel that way if I were nervous onstage.
Country music busts the wall between performer and audience. There's a connection because there's a vulnerability, a confessional quality, to so much of the songwriting. Those lyrics take you in.
Music is by no means something I was like, 'I'm going to make a career out of this!' It's the only thing I know how to do, so it was more like, 'I hope to God I can make a career out of this!'
I'm very shy and awkward. I think the best thing is to embrace it. It's about accepting who you are and what you want to become and knowing all that you've got to work with, whether it's good or bad. My music was the only place I could be me for the longest time.
There's something fun about the road because there's no 9 to 5. But I do find myself making the effort to take some time off. As much as I don't want to, I have to. I need to reset. I love weeks off, because I can go in the studio and just be creative again.
I'm naturally shy, so the social media thing is new to me. I haven't really figured out how my voice sounds on social media, you know? I don't want to tweet everyday just for the sake of tweeting. I want to make sure whatever I do there is honest. Social media can very quickly get fake, and I don't want to be that guy.
I was born with this love for music, and I say 'born with' because I don't really remember a day waking up and deciding that I'm going do to music. It's been all I've ever done and all I've ever wanted to do.
I started writing when I was around 6. I say 'writing,' but it was really just making up stuff! I started writing and doing my own thing. I didn't really know what a demo was or anything like that, so I started getting interested in studio gear and started learning about one instrument at a time. My first instrument was an accordion.
I'm from Louisiana, and that's where I got my start, in Cajun music. There's a huge music scene down there centered around our culture. Those are people that are not making music for a living. They are making music for the fun of it. And I think that's the best way I could have been introduced to music.
I wrote my first song when I was 6 years old. It was actually called 'Six Years Old.'
When I was 13 or 14, I took seven months off from touring. I did a lot of weekend gigs in Louisiana. We have fairs and festivals every weekend. But I took seven months off. That's when I really started digging deep. I wrote a couple songs that year that I still play every now and then for people.
I write for myself. I don't write because I have a record coming out. I write because I want to. I need to.
My celebrity crush is not gonna find out who my celebrity crush is anytime soon. I'm so nervous! I may keep that to myself because if I do meet her and she already knows about it, that could be awkward.
Every time I take a photo, it goes into SnapSeed. Even if it's just a price tag on something, it still goes into SnapSeed, and I start editing it. I'm not a photographer, so I need all the help I can get when it comes to make a picture look cool.
Anyone who tells you they're not nervous playing on the CMAs stage, I'm afraid they're not telling you the whole story.
I truly believe that when you've found the one you're searching for, you become a better version of yourself. You're better for it.
As a new artist - I don't care who you talk to - I think everyone would agree, it's hard to get your expectations right.
I don't even have a type, I don't think. My type is just whoever can get along with me.
Albums are chapters. They're part of a story.
I don't believe in making a record and rushing it.