Sam Hunt: ‘Fatherhood Has Given Me A Sense Of Purpose’
On the brink of divorce from his wife Hannah early in 2022, Sam Hunt and his wife called off the divorce and welcomed their first child, a girl named Lucy…
On the brink of divorce from his wife Hannah early in 2022, Sam Hunt and his wife called off the divorce and welcomed their first child, a girl named Lucy Lu, into the world in June of this year.
Now, Sam says in a new interview that his little girl gives him so much joy. He said, "Fatherhood has given me such a sense of purpose at home and out on the road. A new appreciation for life in general. I think I leveled up overnight, evolved 10 or 20 years overnight."
Hunt now realizes how much starting a family has taken a backseat to his music career in years prior. He offered, "With babies, they've always been in my peripheral [vision]. People have babies. It's not something I've connected to."
He added. "I appreciate babies and young children, but my life has kind of taken precedence. I've had my own thing going. But now, every time I see a child at the airport or a baby at a restaurant, I'm just enamored by it. The miracle is all around me now. I didn't see it before but now, having a child, my eyes are open to it."
Sam said that he's even on board to have more children, "It's an experience I've always wanted to have, being a father, but now that I've had it, it's definitely a life-changing deal, a bucket list deal. I waited a little while, but I'm glad I became a father. I look forward to having, hopefully, some more. I'm trying to have as many as I can before I age out before we age out."
The new dad ensures that even with his busy schedule, he does not miss out on any special moments with little Lucy Lu. He looks forward to being home way more this fall. He said, "She's doing fantastic. She's eating and sleeping and growing fast. You miss out on two or three days at a time, and you can see the little changes at home as far as growing up. But I'll be home in the fall quite a bit. In my spare time off the road, I have been hanging out with my baby girl as much as possible, staring at her, watching her grow, little by little because when I leave, I realize how much she is growing."
Sam Hunt came into country music and made his mark in 2014 with his debut album Montevallo, which was nominated for Best Country Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015. His towering, good looks made Sam an instant country star. As we celebrate his 37th birthday today (12/8), we take a look at and countdown his eight best songs.
8. "House Party" (2015)
UMGAn upbeat fun song and a big hit for Sam. It’s one of his signature songs.
7. "Break Up in a Small Town" (2015)
UMGHunt discussed the process of making the song, saying it was born when he was "singing that chorus melody late one night while riding around trying to come up with song ideas.”
6. "Take Your Time" (2014)
UMGIn the music video for this song, his second radio single, Sam fights a man who was abusing his girlfriend, freeing up the woman to leave with her baby. This song was actually promoted to pop radio six months after its country release.
5. "Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90s" (2020)
UMGHunt said of writing the song's content, "In the 90s, there was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or more, so break ups in the 90's were not easier. The trick was not filling it up with a bunch of technology references and trying to find the story within it. It's just the world's so much smaller now."
4. "Body Like a Back Road" (2017)
UMGThis song spent 20 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart – this made Sam the solo country artist with the second longest run at the top of the 59-year-old “Hot Country Songs” chart. Hank Snow's, "I'm Moving On" spent 21 weeks at the top.
3. "Kinfolks" (2019)
UMGAnother chart-topper for Hunt. Rolling Stone reviewed the song saying in part, "Acoustic guitar arpeggios that lead into big, bright choruses of banjo, vocal snippets, and wah-wah guitar." Well said.
2. "Leave the Night On" (2014)
UMGThe first song that introduced us to this former football player from Georgia. It was his first single, and his first number one song.
1."Hard to Forget" (2020)
UMGJust as music critics started saying that Sam just wasn’t country enough, he kicked off a song with an original recording of Webb Pearce’s 1953 hit, “There Stands The Glass.”
