← Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Join Buzz Knight and Hunter Hayes: Unpacking the Stories Behind 'Evergreen' and the Art of Musical Resilience"
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- [00:01]
Buzz Knight
Taking a Walk hi, I'm Buzz Knight and welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast. I'm really excited today to be joined by somebody who's been redefining the boundaries of modern music for over a decade. He's a five time Grammy nominee, multi instrumentalist and platinum selling artist who has shared stages with everybody from Taylor Swift to the Flaming Lips. But what makes him truly special is his refusal to stay still artistically or emotionally. He's releasing a brand new project, Evergreen, the final chapter of a conceptual trilogy that's traced a remarkable journey from optimism through conflict to resolution. And he's taken that story on the road with a 22 city tour across the United States. Coming up next. Welcome the incredible Hunter Hayes to Taking a Walk.
- [00:54]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:57]
Ryan Seacrest
Guaranteed Human hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Stock Up Savings time now through March 31st. Spring in for storewide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn uneligible items from Lays, Jack Links, Cheez It Classico, Hidden Valley and Best Foods. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more. Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pickup or delivery restrictions apply. See website for terms and conditions. It's Ryan Seacrest here from On Air with Ryan Seacrest. This message brought to you by Pizza Hut. Just casually mention the words how about a pizza tonight? And watch how quickly you grab everybody's attention for only 10 bucks. The $10 anni at Pizza Hut even lets you choose your favorite crust, hand
- [01:42]
Danielle Robay
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- [01:44]
Hunter Hayes
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- [01:47]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [01:58]
Public Investing Sponsor
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures you're listening to
- [02:59]
Redfin Sponsor
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- [03:37]
Hunter Hayes
taking a
- [03:37]
Buzz Knight
Walk Hunter Hayes welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast, my friend.
- [03:41]
Hunter Hayes
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. It's good, good to chat with you.
- [03:45]
Buzz Knight
So I want to take you back to a country radio seminar event, which I believe was one of your first events out in public. I got to watch you perform in a little hotel room there where CRS takes place, and I was mesmerized at that moment at what I saw. And as I reflect on it now, as we're going to talk about your new project, Evergreen, I'm even more mesmerized by that moment. In terms of what I have witnessed. In terms of your evolution and, and what you are up to. Do you ever reflect back to that moment and think about where you are today?
- [04:26]
Hunter Hayes
Thank you for saying it, for saying that, all of that. I really appreciate it. I do all the time in different formats with different lenses. I think recently, having spent some time in reflection, I mean spent the beginning of this year kind of hitting a massive reset button for myself mentally and emotionally. And it kind of naturally and surprisingly came with a lot of reflection on that time and how so many of those moments have shaped me as a human because I mean that was what would be the equivalent of college years for a lot of people, for me. So I do, I reflect on it a lot and in different, like I said, in different lenses and learning different things still from experiences Then it's crazy how busy things got so fast after spending so long just trying and working and just doing everything that I could. Yeah, I think about it a lot, actually.
- [05:28]
Buzz Knight
Now, what drives this trait of yours, which is this refusal to stay still artistically and emotionally?
- [05:40]
Hunter Hayes
Oh, man. I don't even know how to answer that, because that just feels like such a compliment that I just feel like I need to sit and just appreciate the. I mean, like, first of all, I'm so spoiled in that I fell in love with the thing that I do before I had to figure out the thing to do. I was so enamored by the studio process. I was so in love with performing. And, like, my relationship with performing has definitely changed, and it has a whole new meaning, I think, at this point in my life. But I was always in love with performing. Even when I was four or five years old, I just loved it. And then finding the studio world and the sort of safety of creativity where my little brain could hyper fixate on details and I could work on a song from start to finish. And so much of that was by necessity, but also by just the way that I work and my ability to obsess over things. And so much of what I get to do is just. It's all. I found the perfect career before I had to find the career because I get to be involved in all of it when I need a shift in my brain. Like, I get to wear a different hat. Learning how to manage that in time management category has been, you know, I think, the steepest learning curve for me as I grow. But I just. I love it. Like, it's. It's the one thing, like, I. I'm just so grateful that even on the days where I'm like, what is this industry? Why is it the way that it is? What am I even doing in this? Even on the hard, and those are very few and far between. But the hardest days, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. I still. I have this sort of, like, assurance that I can walk up to my little room up here, I can work on music, and I can leave happy and fulfilled if I'm. If I'm depleted, if I'm broken. Like, I feel like the last two days have tried to break me in Nashville with the freezing and, you know, running away from frozen world of it all, even with the chaos of all that. I got home and I was just like, I just want to sit and work for a little bit because my heart needs that. And I just. I found something that's incredibly fulfilling. And it's so fulfilling that it far outweighs the parts that tried to drain me faster. And I'm just learning how to manage the out. The outgoing energy, I guess. You know what I mean? But I just. The short answer, which I'm incapable of giving you is I'm just like. I just love it. And it just gives so much to me. It gives so much more than I give, than I give to it. You know, it shows.
- [08:20]
Buzz Knight
And that's one of the reasons why fans all over the place connect with you, and they can't wait for you to go out on tour and release new music. So let's talk about the new music part of it first. Evergreen completes a trilogy that began with Wild Blue and Red Sky. Can you walk us through? Notice what I did on Taking a Walk. I said, can you walk us through that? That emotional. That emotional of these three albums and what it's been like living inside this journey for however many years it's taken.
- [08:54]
Hunter Hayes
I so badly want to, like. Every time I talk about this, I so badly want to, like, take credit for the. The intentionality. But It's. It's so 50, 50 in that it was an idea. And then in Desp, think I was looking at timelines and figuring out sustainability far before I had the tools to do it. And kind of in the chaos of loric, I mean, just to be candid, I was writing hundreds of songs a year and writing some of my best work and in some cases, some of my least favorite work in the effort to, like, try to figure out who I'm trying to please and, like, why isn't movement happening and just kind of feeling, I think, stuck in a machine with a lot of pieces, you know what I mean? And that's. I don't blame anybody at all. It was just a. One of those circumstantial struggles. And I had gotten to a really kind of potential breaking point. And I was like, well, I always have music. I can always make something, and I can always. I don't know. I felt like that was my way out of being stuck, was just to make things. And this idea came to make a trilogy. And it started as just like, I'm going to work on an album. Wild Blue was the origin, the origin of the whole thing. And Wild Blue was. Was. Was me being a wannabe pilot. I'm a big aviation nerd, and I wanna give my pilot's license. I love the sky. I think there are so many metaphors and comparisons to flight between flight and life and how I handle things and how everything appears to me the same. It's just there's so many common threads and so. And the wild blue yonder, you know, off we go into the wild blue yonder. The. The Air Force theme song. I had that phrase kept getting stuck in my head for years. Or like, I found my note, I wrote it. The whole thing was optimism. I was trying to make an album without any outside influence just for the sake of making it. I think it was therapy for me. I think it was just something I needed to do. I had a basement studio where I had finally collected all the pieces that I needed to be kind of in my eyes at the time, unstoppable. I knew that nothing was between me and a finished song. And so I was just like, it, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make everything I feel drawn to and magnetized towards, and I'm just gonna go and do it. And I worked with Sam Ellis, who I had known in so many different capacities. He came to Nashville 10 years before we wrote together. He ended up on the road with me. He was part of so many, like, production conversations in music, both with working and writing and demoing and making songs. So many live conversations. He was part of arranging. And the band, the whole band that I had at the time was very much a band. Like, we worked together, and I loved the checks and balances of that, and it kept me stable. And so I brought him in to produce the project with me. And it was kind of one song at a time, letting people hear what I was excited about and just holding onto that excitement, using people like John Bellion as an example of how to keep your fire lit. I was just watching people like that on YouTube and going, that's the energy that I want to have about the thing that I'm doing. And maybe that, at the time I thought, like, maybe that's what was missing. So I started with Woah Blue. And it felt like this optimistic sort of. I created it in a safe sort of bubble, if you will. And songs from that project ended up finding their way outside. And like, much to my surprise, my label went nuts over Dear God. And I never thought they were going to let me put that out. And that was the song they were most excited about. And then one heartbreak to me felt like, man, this is me honoring all the things I love about country music, while absolutely bringing in things that I feel like are pushing things forward and things I'm inspired by and things I'm hearing more people do. And then one shot was kind of my, like, laughing. This is me writing by myself, and this is what happens when I tell the whole truth. And then Wild Blue was this experiment. The song Wild Blue was just such an experiment. And then my song, too, was this sort of, like, homage to just, like, great acoustic storytelling. And so I was just. I was just putting it on and still was my way of saying, I'm. I'm mad. This was my U2 rock song honoring Mercy Me in some ways, right? Like, and then still was another Mercy Me tie in, in that it was like a message of hope, a message of groundedness, and, like, I'm going to close this chapter with something intentional. And so I got to do a lot of things, I think, without anyone else's approval or input and. And followed my instincts, my gut, and all the things that were pulling at me and made something I was proud of. Red sky became a very natural sort of place for the other feelings that I had to go and the other things I wanted to try. Red sky was about, okay, you know, Wild Blue was the optimist, the dreamer. Red sky was kind of this project that evolved and became a plant in the corner that I was kind of starting to pay attention to, of, oh, maybe this is where all the angst goes. And then I worked on Red sky, and I did a bunch of crazy stuff and had so much, like, making something so. So full of honesty and that, like, I was trying new musical things that I'd never done before and, like, really hammering home the, like, you know, this isn't about approval. This isn't about. This is just about me letting stuff out, you know, and trying things. And then, you know, all the while, Evergreen. I wrote the song Evergreen first, and Evergreen just kind of sat as this. Like, I. I think I know what that is, but I don't think I've lived enough life to understand what it's. What it wants to tell me yet. And all of these things kind of felt like, obvious, like messages from the future. Red sky was this sort of a place to put things. But also I was like, I don't know that I know what this is yet. I just think this has a. This. This is a room I haven't entered into. And once I get there, I'll get there. And I did, and I had so much fun. And then Evergreen kind of started taking closer. And then eventually we went on tour with Red sky, and I finally got to experience what it was like to make an independent record, to put on a tour as an Independent artist and to see people showing up, like, much to my surprise, if I'm being totally honest, singing the new stuff, like, I sang all of Red sky, and people knew about a boy, and that's when I was like, like, I think we're going to be okay. Meaning, like, I'm not crazy for chasing this down and continuing this path. I think there. I think there are people who are connecting with what I'm doing, and now my challenge is to find them more efficiently, you know, to. To optimize all of my channels here to. To figure out how to reach more people who. Who are. Who are connecting with this. And so that just inspired and then Evergreen became a very clear, like, sort of a series of letters and lessons. Lessons from the past and letters from the future. Okay, I'm not exactly where I want to be yet, but that's not what this album is about. This is about becoming the person that I wanted to be and about the future I want to build and the me that I want to be in that, the partner that I want to meet and the partner that I want to be for my partner and the friend that I want and the steadfast sort of convictions that I want to have and the growth that I want to challenge myself with. So it was an intentional thing in that I created these. I feel like my brain created these worlds, but I had no idea what was supposed to be there until I showed up for them.
- [16:13]
Buzz Knight
I think you would agree that independence breeds defying genres, and that breeds, really a sense, I'm sure, as a creator, of tremendous exhilaration in that process. Can you talk about. You mentioned a few earlier, but can you talk about some of the artists maybe that help lead you down that path of independence and of defying genres?
- [16:41]
Hunter Hayes
I don't even know where we began. I think, like. So, okay, so I'll start with this, because I just spent a day last week with one of my heroes. I grew up listening to Mercy Me. You know, there's. There's so many levels to their music in that they're sort of the things that we hear on the radio, the hits and the big moments, but, like, the amount of intentionality. And it's so awesome meeting your meeting. I think my experience with meeting my heroes has been great because they've all been exactly who I hoped they would be. And I think I get to see. I get to connect with them. Anyway. Bart is somebody that I met. He became a mentor, and we just recently kind of reconnected after, like, just kind of, you Know, I think Covid just. We were all just in. I was in a different place, and so I. We reconnected. And he's a great example in that, like, one of the things I loved about their band and his. His work was that every album was a different genre. And I think that's what, like, drew me to, like, Christian music for a while. I was like, oh, you get to kind of do whatever you want, as it's all about the message. And I, like, I get chills thinking about it because I still think that is stuck in my brain if you. If the message is clear and if I'm clear, then I feel like I have the freedom to explore. I feel like I can. I can if that structure is there, if those roots are planted. And that feels like my roots is the. Hopefully, what other people see as the lyricism, but the messaging and where I'm coming from and who I am being and how vulnerable I'm trying to be. But the human connection of it is my root system. And so I feel like I can kind of stretch a little bit. My branches can stretch into different genres or pull everything in. I'm never trying to be another genre I am in. And I'm also, like, it's too daunting to think that I'm going to create one could create their own. I think it kind of happens by accident, but that's just my opinion on it. But I think following Bart and Mercy Me was a big inspiration because there was so much freedom. And every album was. Was a new scene and a new movie to watch. And it was so cinematic in that, like, there were just these beautiful storylines, like, all that is within me, that whole record, so cinematic. And then, like, coming up to Breathe before that had, like, changed my life because it was, like, angsty, but it was hopeful and it was healing. And then also, like, welcome to the new. That record found me when I was on tour in Japan, and then I ended up connecting with them. So I think people like that. People like Coldplay who, like every album, you know, is different. You know, there are so many challenges with that. You create expectations with the people who listen to any music. And obviously, you have to sort of navigate and negotiate expectations and reality. But I love the fact that they're just always pushing, they're always trying. And, like, I think every Coldplay fan that I know has a different Coldplay record that is their favorite and, in their opinion, the best. And that, to me, is a success. That is when you know you've done it right as an artist, everyone that loves you, loves you for a different thing and. But it's all real, it's all actual, it's all songs that you'd be more than happy to put in the set list right now. You know, it's not chasing trends, it's not reinventing yourself. I've never loved that description of working because it's like you're constantly growing. I don't think you have to reinvent yourself. I think the world does that for you. But yeah, Coldplay is a great example. You know, John Mayer. I think of John Mayer too, like how many different evolutions his music has made. I think he's done a great job of like really weaving the lines. You can really see the thread through, through his work and how it evolves and changes. You can follow it really easily. Yeah, those are like the three that come to mind right now. Because that's kind of my North Star of like, oh, okay, you can, you can stretch, you can change, you can evolve and you can take people along in the journey. It doesn't have to be this scary. Like, what if they don't? Like, if I do this thing? You can feel planted, you can feel convicted in what you're doing and feel good about bringing people along for it.
- [20:51]
Public Investing Sponsor
We'll be right back with more of
- [20:53]
Hunter Hayes
the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [20:56]
Ryan Seacrest
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- [21:28]
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- [21:55]
iHeart Podcast Announcer
You know the one?
- [21:56]
Hunter Hayes
Yep.
- [21:56]
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- [22:27]
Public Investing Sponsor
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. Portfolio that's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available@public.com disclosures let's talk about modern home shopping.
- [23:30]
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- [24:32]
Public Investing Sponsor
welcome back to the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [24:35]
Buzz Knight
As a multi instrumentalist who is, I would say, deeply involved in the production aspects of the work, how do you know when a song is finished?
- [24:48]
Hunter Hayes
You don't. I don't. I mean, I know when I. When I. I. I know when I'm finished with my version of it, but also I don't because I still have mixed revisions around the sun, and that came out nearly a year ago. So I do think that there are. It's such an excellent question because I think that's something I'm still trying to figure out for myself.
- [25:08]
Buzz Knight
Is there ever a point that you. You say, geez, I have to stop tinkering, though?
- [25:15]
Hunter Hayes
Luckily, I don't think there's a tinker moment. I think there's sort of the. You. You sort of circle, like, for me, like, I'll circle. I'll use around the sun as an example. Just because it's. I wrote it by myself and I worked on it by myself for a long time before I brought anybody else in. And when I brought Alex in, it felt like I was presenting him a picture that was a sketch, but I was like, these kind of feel like the characters. This kind of feels like the lighting. This feels like the presentation. And then we just, like, dug down into the presentation. I think that, like. So the riff, you know, it was pretty obvious what the riff was. And then it was. I played it on, like, seven different guitars. And then we realized, oh, it should progress through the song. You know, it should feel light and airy for this version. It should feel more personal and intimate for this section of the song. And then at this point in the song, it's the electric guitar player on stage performing. It's the. It's the Vince Gill kind of, you know, confidence and smooth swagger, you know, and then at the very end of the song, it's just a party and everybody's invited. You know, that's how I like to work. I love to find, like, the thing I want to do, and then I start finding the sounds and the versions of the thing that feel best for that section. I think there's a lot of people working right now in a new kind of. I call it like, an ADHD kind of way, which speaks to my brain. But, like, every section of the song kind of presents a different lens of the band, and I love that. Um, so for me, yeah, I. I don't have an answer to that question. I just I think there are moments when you sort of hear the part and the sound and the vocal, and it feels. And honestly, like, every time I feel like I'm doing too much in production, I'm just like, I need to sing it. I need to. I need to get in. And, like, I need to get the vocal. And once I get the vocal, it's just like, okay, I'm gonna step away. Because that all feels like it's serving the vocal. And that's the advantage of working so much on my own is my. Whatever you want to call it. And a lot of people call it different things, but, like, my energy. I feel like what naturally happens is I lead to the story right up until the moment I tell the story. And when I tell the story, every player kind of falls into place and it all starts to make sense. And then it's. Then it's off to, you know, I mean, we're, you know, mixing and fixing the whole time, but that's. That's my current process, and I like it. It works right now.
- [27:47]
Buzz Knight
What was the most challenging song to complete on Evergreen and why?
- [27:52]
Hunter Hayes
Oh, well, from a writing perspective, because, like, I see them so separately, writing. Like, when I schedule a writing session, it's just me, the writers, guitars, and, like, laptops. But for typing purposes, I don't like. I actually love when we don't make a track in the room. I also love when there's a great producer in the room that is, like, kind of working on the track as we go. Like, that is really fun, and I just so appreciate that craft, and I love to do it. But the only thing I don't like about doing is I'm not capable of making the track and working on the lyric. And to me, I love, like, to me, the test and the only way that I feel confident in a song is if I'm sitting with a guitar and a lyric and it feels great. And then I start getting excited about parts. And then I love going in the studio with a clean slate and a voice memo, because I feel like the song just is so obvious by that point. All the parts I'm hearing pieces and drum patterns and, you know, whatever. Like, it all presents itself. So, like, from the writing perspective, around the sun was the hardest. It took me two days to write that, and that's not normal. I think when I get in flow, I like to hyper fixate and focus on lyrics. And that's why my process is the way that it is. And if it's not there in, like, two hours, I'VE lost it. I feel like I've lost the plot and I've drifted from where the intention was and the feeling was with around the Sun. It was kind of a exercise in. It's okay, it's okay that it's not done. I got the chords first, I walked away. I went to my neurofeedback appointment, Worked on my brain a little bit, came back home. It became more clear, the verses started showing up. And then the next day the key changed and I was like, oh, my God, there is. And then I started working on the track for the next four days. But I'd say that was the hardest, just because it felt like the one I had to be patient and wait for. It was like it was in the room waiting for me to listen, and I just had to practice listening. It's one thing when you have different writers and they're all listening. You know what I mean? We're all kind of listening for the song in the sky, which is kind of how I see it. The rest of these. I mean, Evergreen was so fun and so artistic in the room. And working with Gordy's always been easy for me because he's one of my heroes as well. Until she Comes along was really fun and just like, to me, felt like swamp popping, which is what I grew up around music. Small pop music is my Louisiana version of saying, like retro pop, like very sort of 50s, 60s inspired. Weight was a total tribute to the rock. Even though we wrote it as like an acoustic song, it felt like a rock song. Dream about was a beautiful. I mean, yeah, I think everything was pretty easy. Everything here happened in flow, except for around the Sun. I had to be very patient with that. And then it showed up one piece at a time. And I've really learned the value of appreciating the seeds and letting them grow when they want to.
- [31:06]
Buzz Knight
Thankfully for all your fans, you're heading on the road and you're going to be with Franklin, Jonas and Blue Eyes. You've toured with everybody from Taylor Swift to Carrie Underwood to Dan and Shea. How have those experiences shaped you in your career?
- [31:24]
Hunter Hayes
My first tour was Taylor. And to see an operation so well run and so tight and also so human. Like, just in my opinion, at that time, this was the Speak now tour, so this is a while back, but they were in arenas, we did a couple of stadiums. And it was just so clear that there was an artist with a vision, a team that worked well together. And it was just so. I don't know, everything just felt so well handled. And, like, we all knew the mission, everybody knew the missions, and there was space to be human. And I think that set the bar really, really high. My experience with Carrie was that was my first time doing, like, you know, I guess what they call it, rock routing or LA routing, where you're out for six months, seven months at a time. The longest I'd ever been on the road before. And kind of a privilege that, like, we had a 45 minute show that we got to have fun with. And then I was doing a lot of. I mean, I was doing five meet and greets a day, and, you know, we were busy at the time. I was doing radio. A ton of radio visits. And, like, it was busy, but I think it was the perfect way to experience a little bit of everything that I'm gonna do for the next 10 years in, like, small, concentrated chunks every day. So that was really fun. That was also where we grew from like one bus to two buses. So the crew doubled in size literally overnight. And we got in a truck, and so I got to start making productions. And, you know, the 45 minute show then informed every other show that we would do outside of that tour that year. That was 90 minutes, two hours. And then those shows were even more fun because we got to spread our wings a little bit. And then. Yeah, it's nuts to think that. Yeah, the first time I got to play arenas, right? The first time I got to headline. What I mean by that, Arenas. I had so much fun with that set. And we were just so many challenges because we were. It was my first arena tour. And, like, we didn't really have, like, the arena budget, but we were doing arenas. And so we got creative. It's like, okay, well, we need to let it be the house stage. Okay, great. Can we just turn it 45 degrees and make it a diamond? Yes, we can. Okay, great. We got a new shape. We got a new thing. It's a new thing that, you know, we've not seen. And then we got to do like the half of the H shape stage on this. On the tattoo tour. And. And that was like. That was when we brought out at the time. Yeah. I mean, getting to pick your openers for. For an arena tour is. Is kind of a, you know, it's funny, big boy jacket. You know what I mean? Like, it just, I think, darn cool. I felt like an adult. And that was the tour that, you know, we had Dan and Shea was first, and then it was Danielle Bradbury, and she had just come off the voice. So the entity around, like, her set was super fun. And Dan and Shea were just kind of getting into Nashville so you could feel their excitement for music and the music nerd environment that I like to create, that was the first time I think I got to see it sort of at the highest level. You know, we had. I was surrounded by people who loved what they did, and I had seen my crew and my team grow and the band and I kind of were just finally just enjoying the fruits of our labor for five years. Just like in the rooms we wanted to be in. I was making the productions I wanted to make. And yeah, it was. I learned a lot in those. In those. In that year, because that was the arena run was kind of a whole year of like two different tourists. So. Yeah.
- [34:43]
Buzz Knight
Hunter, in closing, since we call this little podcast Taking a Walk, who would you like to take a walk with? Living or dead?
- [34:52]
Hunter Hayes
Oh, man, a few people. I mean, everybody, like, on my, like, artist influence list. Right. So, like, I'm grateful that I've, you know, Bart's just been such a huge sort of mentor for years. Chris Martin. I'd love to spend some time with Chris Martin. Every time I need to, like, re. Center, I just watch his interviews because I feel like I. I get back to the version of me that I want to be as well. I think it's fascinating to hear people like John talk about his music and his career. I. But I love talking to people in bands because there's such a, you know, the checks and balances. Right. But like, balance of, I don't know, collaboration too. Like, maybe at the top of that list right now is Chris Martin.
- [35:41]
Buzz Knight
Hunter Hayes. I'm so happy you're on Taking a Walk. It was a real thrill to have you. Congratulations on Evergreen and congratulations on the tour and on everything. It's so well deserved and come back anytime.
- [35:56]
Hunter Hayes
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Cheers.
- [35:59]
Buzz Knight
I'm Buzz Knight. And thanks. Thanks for listening to the Taking a Walk podcast. Now please check out our companion podcasts produced by Buzz Night Media Productions with your host, Lynn Hoffman. Music Save Me. Showcasing the healing power of music and comedy. Save Me. Shining a light on how laughter is the best medicine. All shows are available on Apple podcasts, Spotify and are part of the I heart podcast network.
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