Oh $hit, Sam Hunt Is Heading Back Into the Studio
Well damn, all great things must come to an end, and the precious moments we’ve spent in country music gloriously absent of Sam Hunt and his shitty and derivative EDM music poorly disguised as country might finally be sunsetting. It seems like just yesterday when he showed up with his stupid haircut and started pseudo white boy rapping over hip-hop beats about who knows what kind of indolent urban bullshit, making purists clutch their pearls about the future of country music, and anyone with any decent taste looking like they just bit a lemon, and even the folks who found him catchy wondering aloud, “This is country?”
But believe it or not, Sam Hunt released his debut record now nearly five years ago. Sam hasn’t just been slow on delivering a sophomore record, he’s been outright missing in action. It seems like ol’ Sam Hunt lost his give a shits after releasing a whole record of vapid garbage, saying in 2017, “I don’t want to come off as … I’m not excited about making music or I’m not very hopeful to have new music for the fans who are anxiously awaiting new music, but, you know, I’m in a place in my career and in my life where I’m not willing to give music 100 percent of me anymore.”
There were rumors about Sam Hunt outright retiring, and it seemed like even he was getting wise to the weak nature of his songs, and losing passion for performing them. “Going forward, I’m not necessarily going to try to keep pushing, pushing, pushing to see how big I can get or make it or go with it,” he said. “It wasn’t my dream to be a writer, an artist, for life.”
Well unfortunately the news coming out of an interview with SiriusXM’s The Highway at Stagecoach last weekend is that Sam Hunt’s long drought of not recording new music is about to be over. “I’ll start recording the best of the last 10, 11, 12 months … in July and August, and I should have a record there,” Hunt said. “The songs are showing up. I would like to have two or three more between now and July, but for the most part, the record’s there. It’s just a matter of recording it … I made a point this year to get this record done come hell or high water.”
The early career success of Sam Hunt is unquestionable. He launched four #1 singles, and two #2 singles off his debut album Montevallo, which led up to the 2017 standalone single “Body Like a Backroad” becoming the longest-charting single on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in history (later bested by Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be”). But since then Sam has been on a bit of a losing streak. Hunt’s big plans for a genre-blurring festival in Nashville last year called “Nashional” got cancelled due to poor reception, and his last single “Downtown’s Dead” became the worst-performing song of his career, and by a long shot, stalling out at #15 on the charts.
If Sam Hunt gets into the studio this late summer, it still may be early 2020 before any new record sees the light of day. At that point it will have been six-and-a-half years since he showed up on the scene, and we’ll have to see if he Clint Black’d himself with his disappearing act. And even then, Sam Hunt still may not have the stomach to release the type of songs that once made him super popular.
Hunt also said in 2017, “My inspiration and the type of songs that I want to write don’t necessarily all aim in that [commercial] direction. So, now that I’ve established myself and am in the position that I’m in now, going forward, I’d like to explore writing songs that probably won’t be as commercially viable as some of the songs that I’ve written in the past.”
So who knows, Sam Hunt 2.0 may either not be as bad as we’re worried about, or even if it is, nobody may care anymore because they’re off into Kane Brown and Thomas Rhett now, and Sam Hunt is old hat. But at this point, the damage of Sam Hunt’s music is done. He pushed the boundaries of “country” so far, now you’re called racist if you question if Lil Nas X should be on the country charts, because hey, Sam Hunt was. This was the reason we were screaming from the rafters about what a danger Sam Hun t posed, and now all of those concerns are coming to fruition.
We’ll just have to see how new music from Sam Hunt transpires. But with his track record and all the hurt he’s caused the genre, it’s hard to take news of him heading back into the studio as a good thing.
AT
May 2, 2019 @ 8:54 am
Sam covered Waylon’s “Belle of the Ball” during his Stagecoach set + it was really good. Definitely the most country thing I’ve ever heard him do.
Tom
May 2, 2019 @ 9:45 am
I’ve heard numerous reports of Sam Hunt taking a moment during his concerts to cover various songs that were truly country over the years. So maybe there’s some hope that there’s an actual country guy in there who’s been co-opted by the Powers that Be into whatever the heck you would call him based on his commercial output to date. And maybe his prior success has given him some leeway to record something in a more traditional vein.
But I’m not holding my breath.
Lil Dale savin country music hall of fame member class of 2015
May 2, 2019 @ 3:45 pm
hay Trigg have u Hurd that smelly pile of shit called sum bodys dawter they have been playin on the my local country radio? my ole lady said its a good song and I told er I think it sucks and that Trigg and the boys wur gonna have a feeld day with that wun so will u be ritten wun of yur storys about that wun so u no I can show er I was rite?
Lefty Throckmorton
May 2, 2019 @ 5:15 pm
That’s just one good thing he did.
Pierre Brunelle
May 3, 2019 @ 12:57 pm
Unlike Beavis and Butt-head (aka FGL), SH could write a country song. I don’t think that he is incompetent. Unfortunately, he has released everything but country songs. That’s the problem.
albert
May 4, 2019 @ 12:53 am
he has a shitty voice for country . for anything
TJ
May 7, 2019 @ 3:42 pm
To be fair it’s kinda hard to cover “Belle of the Ball” poorly enough to make it unenjoyable. Also, fun fact, the line “A vagabond dreamer, a rhymer and singer of songs” is engraved on Waylon’s headstone.
ChrisP
May 2, 2019 @ 9:34 am
Oh great, here we go again. I remember the first time I heard, “Take Your Time.” I checked the radio… Yep, the country station, and then I turned it off in favor of complete silence as I mourned the state of country. As Trigger points out, he claims to be interesting in “non-commercially viable” stuff. My opinion: this non-viable stuff is more in line with Lil Nas X (which wasn’t viable for a long time) and less with traditional country and he now sees an opening for peddling that crap. I may be proven wrong, but he’s taken too many craps on country music for me to believe otherwise.
Brian
May 2, 2019 @ 9:57 am
Just looking at his songwriting history and I might have missed some, but his most country song is “I Met a Girl” by William Michael Morgan, so maybe there is a real outside possibility that he cold do better songs, but that is an extreme longshot.
albert
May 4, 2019 @ 12:54 am
but he has a shitty voice for country .
Black Boots
May 2, 2019 @ 10:11 am
Gonna review the Maddie & Tae EP, even though we only got 2 new tracks?
Tom
May 2, 2019 @ 10:42 am
It seems like every comment section has a question like this. Do people not realize that there’s a “contact” link at the top of the page they can click to send messages with questions like this so that they don’t have to derail a conversation about a completely unrelated topic? Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this is strange.
JB-Chicago
May 2, 2019 @ 8:34 pm
No Tom you’re not the only one. A couple of days ago when I ended my Randy Rogers post with “On a different note I stumbled upon the new Steel Blossoms album and kinda like it. Never heard their first one. Is it on your radar Trig?” I thought about just emailing him directly because I myself hate when threads get kind of high jacked by that as well. That’s the first time I’ve ever done it only because this site has me trained me to search for an artist here first before I’d even ask the question and because the album blew me away on first listen. (Which is very RARE) 99% of the time he/you guys know about whatever I find. Let Trig answer the question though, I’m fine either way.
Black Boots
May 3, 2019 @ 2:28 pm
If every comment section has it, then good luck combating it. Thanks for your feedback.
Tom
May 6, 2019 @ 5:50 am
I’m not “combating” anything, I just find it odd.
Trigger
May 2, 2019 @ 10:49 am
No, I am not going to review the new Maddie & Tae, and I won’t listen to the new songs until we get the full, cohesive record as they wrote and recorded it as a conceptualized, unfolding narrative.
hoptowntiger94
May 2, 2019 @ 5:07 pm
Are you just copying and pasting that response?
Black Boots
May 3, 2019 @ 2:27 pm
Oh, that’s silly, but do you, my man. Do you also not listen to singles, even though they’re intended for albums?
Tom
May 6, 2019 @ 6:31 am
Singles get reviewed here all the time before the albums are released. The difference in this case is that Maddie &Tae’s forthcoming album is a concept album where the songs work together to tell a story rather than being a collection of unrelated singles like most albums. Think Pink Floyd or Waylon’s A Man Called Hoss album. Each song has a specific place in the context of the story being told, and taken out of that context might unfairly present them in a bad light.
Corncaster
May 2, 2019 @ 10:28 am
“That dump I took in your living room? It’s not like I was the only one to do that, right? And look, things change, carpets get cleaned now and then. Next time, I’ll behave. You know I’m always good for a party, right?”
Pass.
Jeff Tappan
May 2, 2019 @ 10:38 am
Not sure why everyone’s so surprised about him. He’s like most of the current crop of singers occupying Trashville. For him, and them, it’s not the art. It’s the money.
Barstool Hero
May 2, 2019 @ 12:10 pm
So much other garbage has invaded “Country” radio in the past 6 years, it almost made me miss Sam. almost. Eh. Nevermind.
Tom
May 2, 2019 @ 1:26 pm
I’ve never had any sentimental feelings about Mr. Hunt. But I do long for the days when Rascal Flats and Kenny Chesney were the most offensive artists on country radio.
Big Cat
May 2, 2019 @ 1:38 pm
You know my take on this; if people buy it I don’t blame people for selling it. I’ve never listened to one of his songs because I don’t listen to radio. Good for him if he made a bunch of money off some stupid songs, some stupid people bought.
Tracy
May 2, 2019 @ 3:59 pm
I was just diagnosed with a kidney stone and thought that would be the most terrible and painful news I get this week. But, nope, “Sam Hunt Going Back to the Recording Studio” is much, much worse! I really have zero hope he records anything that resembles country, but I am hoping his long absence will have rendered him irrelevant… but as you stated, the damage is already done.
King Honky Of Crackershire
May 2, 2019 @ 5:30 pm
This is horrible news, that I never would’ve been subjected to, if I weren’t such a loyal reader of Saving Country Music.
Bob
May 2, 2019 @ 6:20 pm
Well done Trigger(like Roy Rogers’ horse? Sorry I had to ask. Don’t know). That opening paragraph as put down is as well written as I have seen lately. I gotta start paying closer attention for my reading pleasure. His chart success as you subsequently pointed out is admirable though isn’t it. I wonder how satisfied I could be after a run like that or if I would still be in debt. Isn’t that how the business often works with nobody actually spending any money to speak of on music and artists having to spend money to have the pleasure of presenting it to them? Just things about which I wonder.
Fiddle Me This
May 3, 2019 @ 12:12 am
Wow, why can’t my comments be posted…??? This is some rubbish… We talked it out over Twitter. Aren’t we good? I’ll stick to one username and one email address.. Happy?
Trigger
May 3, 2019 @ 8:07 am
Use one unsername, which would be “Hey Arnold,” and use an actual email address so I can keep up with your trolling ass. Or don’t comment.
Hey Arnold
May 3, 2019 @ 9:57 pm
Deal
Trigger
May 3, 2019 @ 10:23 pm
Any fuckery here or anywhere else and you’re permanently banned for life. And don’t over post.
Keepin Country
May 3, 2019 @ 5:06 am
Will this guy just go away already? Switch over to pop already. I wish someone would treat your body like a backroad in the back of an alley
wayne
May 3, 2019 @ 5:50 am
As Justin Moore sang, “I Kinda Don’t Care.”
scott
May 3, 2019 @ 5:55 am
Every time I see his picture, with that smug look, I just want to punch him. And, I’m not usually a violent guy.
Firdaus
May 3, 2019 @ 8:34 am
Never been a fan anyway but i hope he’d live up to the hypes he’s getting by delivering some quality music in the future or at least good enough ones. I find it irritating how some artists gained further success in their careers by putting out not so good music which for some reason sit well with a lot of people’s ears and continuing to do so for they thought they found the right kinda music to do since people love it
Atomic Zombie Redneck
May 3, 2019 @ 10:03 am
Uggg.
He must have a contractoral obligation to release another album. But he shot himself in the foot by waiting so long, unless he puts out something amazing.
Barry from the Hill
May 3, 2019 @ 2:08 pm
It’s only been 4 1/2 years since Montevallo was released and he had four #1s and a #2 on that album.
I totally respect your opinion – but at least get the facts straight if you’re gonna bash a guy.
Trigger
May 3, 2019 @ 2:24 pm
“Nearly five years ago” I think would be a fair way to characterize how more time has elapsed than normal between album releases for a major label artist.
As for having four #1’s, you’re right, I believe I missed “Make You Miss Me.” Thanks for the correction.
Tom
May 6, 2019 @ 6:47 am
4 #1 songs on the US Country Airplay chart, 3 #1 songs on the Hot Country chart. I’ve followed this blog long enough to know that when chart position is discussed in general terms the Hot Country chart is typically what’s used because it’s a more comprehensive measurement of a song’s performance.
Lack of specific clarification is not the same as not getting the facts straight.
Joe
May 3, 2019 @ 8:44 pm
“He pushed the boundaries of “country” so far, now you’re called racist if you question if Lil Nas X should be on the country charts, because hey, Sam Hunt was”
If you failed to question whether Sam Hunt was country yet are questioning Lil Nas X, there is a good chance you are racist. Many, many people are doing this, especially in Nashville.
And let’s be 100% clear, I am NOT talking about Trigger, as he has called out Sam Hunt, Bebe Rehxa, and others who are not country.
OntarioCountry
May 4, 2019 @ 5:56 pm
Uh OH, the raycism police have arrived.
There are no non-country songs masquerading as country playing on my radio.
handsomeblacktrueolboybrady
May 4, 2019 @ 7:59 am
RETIRING ???Hunt’s just thirty-three,and a year off Country record in history (it almost literally pains me to type this,as a couple of nights ago I had the distinct displeasure of almost listening to “Body Like A Back Road” before quickly changing the channel on my radio ) ,so why would he retire ?
Mary
May 5, 2019 @ 3:27 pm
I made the mistake of READING THIS ARTICLE! I REALLY thought ‘country’ music and listeners had some integrity. You people are shameless. Bashing a Georgia Boy who’s singing his heartfelt music, loves football, hunting, family, God, and his high school sweetheart is really low class. There’s room for SAM HUNT in COUNTRY music and in the hearts of GOOD COUNTRY PEOPLE!
Tom
May 6, 2019 @ 6:37 am
“Heartfelt?” I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Mike
May 6, 2019 @ 6:32 pm
I see the fanbots have arrived. That took longer than I expected, though.
Judy L. Males
December 11, 2021 @ 12:17 pm
I for one do like Sam Hunts music. I believe there should be another genre of music for folks like him. Pop Country. Not to be confused with Country and Western music. Now which radio stations to play it on….🌸