Still Fallin' for Hunter Hayes

If there’s one thing that Hunter Hayes is not short of, it’s creativity. The 23-year-old virtuoso (he plays 30 instruments, at last count) claims that he wrote more than 100 songs during the making of his 2014 album, Storyline, and currently has about 250-300 songs in the vault just waiting to be set free. 

Luckily for Hayes – and his vast catalog – he’s not limiting himself to a traditional album release schedule anymore, having announced this year that he’s attempting a digital strategy that allows him to put out individual tunes as often as he would like. “What I’m learning is that’s its fun to put out songs a bit more frequently,” he explains. “It makes me more creatively happy because you don’t have to cram a bunch of writing in and then switch to studio mode and then switch to live mode.

"It’s now more of a fluid circle,” he continues, adding that the procedure allows him to solicit more conversation with fans about what kind of music they want to hear. “It’s been really fun lately just trying kind of a new creative process.”

There’s not too much, creatively speaking, that Hunter Hayes can’t do. The musical phenom is not only one of country’s hottest young stars, he can effortlessly swing into other genres – as evidenced by his playfully rendered acoustic version of Walk the Moon’s infectious hit, “Shut Up and Dance.” 

“The idea of doing a cover was on point with this song,” Hayes says with a laugh before treating the Ram Studios crew to his exclusive performance. He also noted that he’s been sliding the summertime smash into his live shows here and there.