Walker Hayes: Swinging For the Fences

 

If you listen to this podcast at all, then you’ve heard Walker Hayes' name dropped by a few other writers who’ve collaborated with him- Nicolle Galyon, Josh Jenkins, to name two. There’s a lot of respect in Nashville for him, especially since he’s been there since the early 2000s. But all this time he’s been mostly under the radar. Heck, at one point, he was working at a Costco. 

Things started to change when in 2017 when he had a modest hit with You Broke Up With Me and then last year, he crushed it. Fancy Like wasn’t just a hit, it became nothing less than a sensation, with a viral dance, TV commercials.  It also sparked some grumbling: country purists didn’t like that Fancy Like was country-rap. And if I’m honest, I started off as one of them. The first few times I listened I thought, aw, what’s this. But then, it sort of sucked me in. Look, spoken word hits are nothing new in country music: Charlie Daniels Uneasy Rider and Devil Went Down to Georgia. CW McCall, Convoy. Big John, Jimmy Dean. Toby Keith, I Wanna Talk About Me, Hank Jr, Born to Boogie. Dirt Road Anthem, Jason Aldean. And that’s how I started to look at Fancy Like. Sure, it isn’t an exact comparison-the rhythm is more urban that backwoods, but the lyrics? They’re as country as -to paraphrase a line from an old Hank Jr song -a 2-job working family, which is basically what Walker and his wife Lanie still were, until the song took off. And..? It’s just fun. Is that such a crime? Most of all, if you listen closely, you'll realize it's a very honest song, which, I’ve since come to find out- and you’re about to- is the only bullseye Walker aims for.  

 

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