“It’s good to be proud of your heritage and your culture, but pride can be perverted.”
― Sam Hunt
“I wanted to be a bull rider when I grew up.”
― Sam Hunt
“I wrote a song several years ago while I was in college called ‘Muscadine Wine.’ I really didn’t know if it had potential or not, if it was good or bad or what. I played it for my roommates – who I played ball with – one night, and I knew they would tell me the truth. They loved it, and that encouraged me.”
― Sam Hunt
“People throw things at me sometimes, at big festivals.”
― Sam Hunt
“I try to stay as naive as possible so I’m not as aware as much of the risks.”
― Sam Hunt
“Traditionally, music has been a means of separating ourselves as people from another group of people.”
― Sam Hunt
“After graduating college, I was coming out of a routine I’d been in for several years, all the way back to high school. It was a year-round process of constantly having to work and be disciplined, and I was able to understand and connect the dots between all those characteristics – especially hard work and success.”
― Sam Hunt
“People sniff out when you try to fake something or be something you are not.”
― Sam Hunt
“The key to me is being different not for the sake of being different, but being the most authentic version of what you do. And definitely it takes a willingness to be different, because there was resistance for me early on, and I feel like that’s usually the case when there’s a certain paradigm or trend happening, and you step outside of that.”
― Sam Hunt
“I like disagreement because it forces both sides to question their own opinions and why they feel that way.”
― Sam Hunt
“’Make You Miss Me’ is an important song to me. Having it go No. 1 as the fifth single off of my first record is the cherry on top of a chapter in my life I’ll never forget.”
― Sam Hunt
“New experiences give you new perspectives on life.”
― Sam Hunt
“Some people don’t like long bus rides, but I love them. There’s sort of a sense of solitude.”
― Sam Hunt
“I think of a song in terms of lyrics and stories, and that’s what keeps it country for me.”
― Sam Hunt
“A lot of the lessons that are taught in football will promote success in anything you get into after football; for me, it just happens to be music. Being disciplined. Good character. Trying to do the right thing, and working hard.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m conflicted about the lyric tattoo thing. I feel like that’s a lifetime decision, and I always feel like, ‘I hope you don’t regret this a couple years from now when you get tired of that song.’”
― Sam Hunt
“I was a big music fan, but I never bought a bunch of records or was very educated, I guess, on who was who or what was what.”
― Sam Hunt
“Football sometimes is stressful. Music is more of a kind of laid-back type, chilled-out kind of activity. It kind of keeps me balanced, I guess.”
― Sam Hunt
“It took me a couple years to get over the stereotype I was letting myself get caught up on, being a football player trying to start a career in music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I do think I’m country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound of country, has always evolved. But the one thing that has not changed is the story element. And I think country songs are truthful songs about life written by country people.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m not trying to become a pop artist, and I’m not trying to make sure I stay a country artist. I’m just trying to make sure I make the best music I can, according to my way.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t know where my fashion sense comes from, exactly. I’ve always been interested in, not necessarily being unique, but not necessarily sticking to the preexisting paradigm – whether it be clothes or music or whatever.”
― Sam Hunt
“It wasn’t until I was 18, when I was graduating high school, that I went and bought a guitar on a whim.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m still learning a lot as a songwriter. I try to write down and make a note of ideas that I cross paths with on a day-to-day basis, whether it be a conversation or something I hear on the radio, seeing a movie, or just thoughts in my head as I’m walking down the street.”
― Sam Hunt
“I think that people in general appreciate honesty and not trying to cook something up just to fit a mold that would be beneficial for you. I never made music like that.”
― Sam Hunt
“When somebody’s never heard you, that’s the way to do it: Just give them music for free and let them decide for themselves if they like it or not.”
― Sam Hunt
“Maybe one day music will just be music, and there won’t be these categories; it’ll just be different shades of music.”
― Sam Hunt
“The money factor had been kind of my excuse as to why I hadn’t put out any music. So I just found the cheapest way to make music and get it to people, and that was via the Internet.”
― Sam Hunt
“I like to come up with lots of different sounds. So the final version of a song might have been 10 completely different songs before we finally got it right.”
― Sam Hunt
“You want to stand out and be unique and do something different. I always try to zig when they zag – I guess it’s a football term, but it applies to a lot of different areas of life.”
― Sam Hunt
“By no means do I want to try to leave country music. That’s absolutely where I want to stay.”
― Sam Hunt
“I was pretty gung-ho about music and pursuing that and figuring that whole thing out, so I was wide-eyed and ready to go when I moved to Nashville. I never looked back.”
― Sam Hunt
“I drove right into the music with the same sort of attitude as I went into the football stuff with. Just found a routine and hard work, and it helped me progress a lot faster.”
― Sam Hunt
“When I graduated high school, I bought a guitar and, at first, didn’t really think I’d get into the songwriting thing as much as I did. But after learning a few songs of other people’s to play on the guitar, I got bored with that and just started writing songs on my own, and that’s kinda how it came about.”
― Sam Hunt
“Within the songwriting community, there are these unwritten rules for the way that a song should be written in country music, and I think that those rules are constantly being broken over the years, and the molds change and the process is evolving.”
― Sam Hunt
“I had some interesting costumes… the one that I remember right offhand is Zorro when I was a lot younger. I was a big time Zorro fan. My mom helped me make it, and I remember having a big issue with the fact that she wouldn’t let me carry around a real metal sword; it just had to be plastic.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t know that I’ve ever bought anything online. I’m about 10 years behind the technological curve, I think.”
― Sam Hunt
“I love being outside, I do a lot of hunting.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’ve had a lot of folks tell me that my songs weren’t quite country because they didn’t really sound like anybody that had come along and done it before me. I felt a little out of place for a while.”
― Sam Hunt
“I realized that I could try to sound like Waylon Jennings, or I could try to be like Waylon Jennings… but it’s impossible to do both.”
― Sam Hunt
“A good story gives you more of a license to be forward and progressive with the music.”
― Sam Hunt
“My route is a little bit nontraditional. A lot of the people working in Nashville, they have a model. I don’t really fit into that.”
― Sam Hunt
“I kept hearing all these rules: ‘You can’t say that in country music.’ ‘You can’t use that kind of beat.’ I became so frustrated. It may have slingshotted me, in a rebellious way, toward doing something different.”
― Sam Hunt
“I study what’s happening in music. I want to sound different than everybody else.”
― Sam Hunt
“My golf game is lacking big time.”
― Sam Hunt
“I have a whole, whole lot of respect for the men and women that serve our country.”
― Sam Hunt
“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate the freedom that I have to make music and tour and spend time with my family.”
― Sam Hunt
“Any chance to get out and play live for some people and get out of the studio is nice.”
― Sam Hunt
“Respect for women was a very important part of my upbringing.”
― Sam Hunt
“To all my people back in Nashville who have been there from the start, you put your faith in me. You were there for the long haul.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t get irrational about it, but I do have a deeply-rooted competitive spirit. Not necessarily towards other people, but towards any obstacle that I set for myself.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t like the idea that in music, clothes, taste or anything, we are limited to a certain style, because we need to maintain an identity, maybe between some subculture group. Hopefully, all those walls break down, and music is just music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I am from the country, and I grew up mostly influenced by country music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I experimented and explored ways to find my own niche in Nashville, and I was having trouble with it for a while because stylistically, I didn’t feel like I necessarily fit in.”
― Sam Hunt
“Whatever’s going on in my life shows up in the writing room.”
― Sam Hunt
“The things that are going to be in all my records, for as long as I’m making them, are going to go back to who I am and where I’m from and the lifestyle that I live and come from – and I don’t know how I could ever get any of that close enough to pop to be considered a pop act.”
― Sam Hunt
“I get the best inspiration or the most creativity from real emotions.”
― Sam Hunt
“Sometimes I’m not even aware of some of the issues going on with me in my life until I sit down and start kind of looking for inspiration, trying to find something that inspires that creativity.”
― Sam Hunt
“I played quarterback, and it was a leadership position, and even though I’m doing a solo thing now, a lot of my success is a part of assembling this team of people who are really, really talented, and their position doesn’t put them out front the way mine does, but it’s still a team effort.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’ve always really liked the rhythm element of songs.”
― Sam Hunt
“I got a horse when I was eight or 10 years old. And dad used to take me to the rodeo back home. I got into it big time.”
― Sam Hunt
“When I was really young, my babysitters had horses, and I started riding them.”
― Sam Hunt
“We try not to pull any punches and be straightforward, and I think that’s what helped us connect with everybody across the board.”
― Sam Hunt
“I wish I could make multiple records, stylistically. The way that I’m gonna remedy that is to make a diverse record with a lot of different styles on one record.”
― Sam Hunt
“I love so many styles of music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m not really a piano player, but I play enough to get away with it.”
― Sam Hunt
“At heart, I’m a relationship guy, but my adventurous side makes it hard. I hope I’ll find a balance.”
― Sam Hunt
“My dad is a football guy, not a music guy. He didn’t totally understand when I decided to be a musician.”
― Sam Hunt
“In a small town, it’s either sports or a band with your buddies. I was always athletic. But in college, I was exposed to all this new music, and I was drawn to hip-hop and R&B.”
― Sam Hunt
“I love what Drake does, but I don’t want to be called the Drake of country.”
― Sam Hunt
“Fortunately, the music from the first record really connected with people, and I was really proud of that.”
― Sam Hunt
“There’s this sort of model that exists in Nashville that we think we have to abide by: You put out a record, and in two years you have to put out another one and have three or four singles. There are all these rules that I’ve just sort of thrown out the window.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m going to put music out when I feel like it’s ready.”
― Sam Hunt
“I was a product of the relationships with my family, the environment I grew up in; all those things I kind of put on the back burner when I got into music, and my life all changed dramatically.”
― Sam Hunt
“As much as I enjoy traveling and playing on stage as an artist, I really find my true sense of purpose in a room writing a song.”
― Sam Hunt
“I realized after writing songs for years how important it is. Whether it provides a living for me or not, that creative outlet is something I need.”
― Sam Hunt
“I really feel like I honed in on a sound and a style of writing that best fits me.”
― Sam Hunt
“I like doing stuff like, for instance, in the ‘Leave the Night On’ video, I had on a plain white T-shirt. I just wanted to do something to it to make it a little different, so I just cut a big strip out of the side, from the shirttail up to my armpit, and cut a big red strip out of another T-shirt and just sewed it in there.”
― Sam Hunt
“I definitely grew up as a small-town… I guess you could call it the ‘small-town football player,’ according to the stereotype. I wasn’t involved in music at all.”
― Sam Hunt
“On my teams, as a guy who grew up hunting and fishing, I was in the minority in terms of music and lifestyle. I became good friends with people who listened to R&B and rap. But it wasn’t just an issue of being around it – I was naturally drawn to it right off the bat.”
― Sam Hunt
“The most flattering thing I hear is, ‘I didn’t think I liked country music before I heard your record.’”
― Sam Hunt
“A lot of times, songs can blend together on the radio because there’s so many great songs out there.”
― Sam Hunt
“I wasn’t intentionally trying to be different, but that was an element of what I naturally do that happened to be unique enough to spark a curiosity for people.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t let many things that are superficial keep me in a box.”
― Sam Hunt
“Picking up a guitar brought a lot of balance into my life.”
― Sam Hunt
“I learned from making a few of these low-budget videos early on that the best way to go about doing it is just to keep it honest and real.”
― Sam Hunt
“It’s just really fulfilling to celebrate with a group of folks, a team, than it is personally.”
― Sam Hunt
“The first song I learned on the guitar was a Kenny Chesney song called ‘What I Need to Do’; it was just an easy song to play… and it was really cool to see that come full-circle a few years later and have him record a song that I was part of.”
― Sam Hunt
“I try to make music that’s relevant to my life and relatable to the culture I live in.”
― Sam Hunt
“Putting out music as it’s made, versus holding it until an album’s finished, allows me to be more timely and maintain balance.”
― Sam Hunt
“I do feel pressure internally and externally to put out music, but that excites me because I love songwriting, and this brings me back to why I got in music in the first place, so I’m excited about that.”
― Sam Hunt
“Prior to getting into music, I interacted with, on a daily basis, about 5-10 percent of the people that I’ve interacted with since then. I’ve been meeting people from different backgrounds and different cultures. That did allow for a lot of change. I’ve changed as a product of that, but it’s been positive.”
― Sam Hunt
“I grew up really close to Alabama, about 10 minutes from the Alabama line. We’d make trips to Alabama, and I feel at home there.”
― Sam Hunt
“Folks in Alabama seem like folks in Georgia to me. I feel like you can just about combine the two.”
― Sam Hunt
“I have two or three guys that I’m really close to. We have a great friendship, and I think that helps our songwriting relationship. It’s hard to start… with new people and cover the ground that I’ve covered with those guys.”
― Sam Hunt
“Obviously, I love country music, so I wanna be able to live in the country music genre and then play to country music fans.”
― Sam Hunt
“From the pop side, people like Usher, and when they first came out, I listened to guys like K-Ci and JoJo; that ’90s R&B thing really caught my ear.”
― Sam Hunt
“Shane McAnally is a really good friend of mine. He’s one of the first guys that really embraced what I was doing with an open mind.”
― Sam Hunt
“I didn’t know what to expect, having not been an artist before. From the outside, you only see romantic snapshots of what seems like a great lifestyle, and it is, but it’s also grueling.”
― Sam Hunt
“There’s such a strong community element in country – it’s like a family. So I don’t want to do anything that can come off, even if I’m not intentionally doing it, as giving the perception that I’m trying to abandon that family.”
― Sam Hunt
“There’s a system in place in Nashville, and for a long time, I was trapped in this idea that the only way to do it was to come to town, get a record deal, and do it the way they say. And that system works. But it caters to a specific kind of artist, and I didn’t necessarily fit that mold.”
― Sam Hunt
“You think about the artists I look at as icons, and you assume they were instantly embraced. That’s usually not the case. In reality, they had to overcome a lot of noes to get where they wanted to be.”
― Sam Hunt
“To me, country songs are simple.”
― Sam Hunt
“I didn’t really know you could make a living in songwriting. I was just very fortunate to have the opportunity to play a few songs for a guy there named Jimmy Ritchey. Through that meeting, I met another couple guys and ended up getting a publishing deal in Nashville.”
― Sam Hunt
“I have a cat named Dandelion.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’ve always wanted to do my best to make sure it’s clear that I want to keep the focus on my music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I could probably recite just about every song that was on country radio between 1990 and 2000.”
― Sam Hunt
“I worked at a hospital parking cars and getting folks in and out of the hospital as they would come in for their appointments.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’ve always craved winning. It’s just easier in sports because there’s a scoreboard.”
― Sam Hunt
“I had a couple CDs. But I never had that first concert experience, that first record thing.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’ve tried to work really hard on never phoning in the lyrics.”
― Sam Hunt
“I’m not in control of my fate, and that’s a good thing.”
― Sam Hunt
“It wasn’t in the cards to work out in football.”
― Sam Hunt
“I still get excited about it. I miss playing ball.”
― Sam Hunt
“I can’t play guitar if I blow my arm out.”
― Sam Hunt
“I am kind of the front man for a team of people behind the scenes who are working just as hard as me and are putting in just as much time to make this all happen. I’m not trying to be humble. I just want everyone to get credit where credit is due.”
― Sam Hunt
“There wasn’t really a song or artist that made me want to be a singer, I think I was always a fan of country music.”
― Sam Hunt
“I never thought of myself as a performer or songwriter or singer.”
― Sam Hunt
“I thought that I could have a career in music. I really didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do or how I would go about doing it.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t think I’m conscious of most of the things I’ve drawn from football, because they’re so ingrained in me now… understanding that the discipline and the routine and the regimentation to be successful.”
― Sam Hunt
“I was able to really see that connection as a football player where success requires a lot of hard work and effort, physically and mentally.”
― Sam Hunt
“I don’t really know that I’m aware of a lot of the inspiration and influence that I’m under, because I didn’t have an extensive musically educational upbringing.”
― Sam Hunt
“I was really only around country music on the radio, and I think because I grew up so close to Atlanta, and R&B was such a big part of that culture, by proximity I think a lot of that music influenced me without knowing it.”
― Sam Hunt
“I love all kinds of music, and I would write really traditional country songs and songs that were just really out there, that didn’t sound country at all, and everything in between.”
― Sam Hunt
“I connect music to the emotions that come from relationships, so most of the songs that I write are inspired by those circumstances, emotions, feelings, all that kind of stuff.”
― Sam Hunt
“I kind of have my little OCD wood shed at my house where everything is just right when I go write.”
― Sam Hunt
“With a song called ‘House Party,’ you’d expect it to be more about a big party, not as much about a relationship, so we tried to put a little bit of a unique twist on it.”
― Sam Hunt
“My style, in terms of what I wear, is kind of representative of the music.”
― Sam Hunt
“It’s liberating to wear clothes that are outside the boundaries of what I’m supposed to wear, ya know, based on the traditional model, whether that be a country music singer, or being from the country. It’s not a rebellious thing.”
― Sam Hunt
“Once it’s out there in the universe, it’s serving its purpose, and I’m proud to have other folks hear the music that I was a part of making.”
― Sam Hunt
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