Based on first impressions, it seems that Sam Hunt is a typical country boy. Hunt spent his youth in rural Cedartown, Georgia, played football most of his life and ended up as the starting quarterback at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he picked up a guitar and started writing songs. Now you may be asking, “What’s so special about a country boy with a guitar?” There’s something about his music that screams “Listen to me. I’m different.”
In an Allmusic review, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that “what grounds the album is his clean, commercial songwriting, heavy on hooks but also sturdily constructed. Ultimately, Hunt’s ability to fuse his classical construction with modern flair and pass it off as no big thing is what makes his debut something more than just another album from the bro next door.”
Hunt recently released an album titled “Montevallo,” and the variation of songs and sounds on the album begs you to listen to it over and over again. He begins with “Take Your Time”, which is a classic Country tune about taking a girl’s time, but not overpowering her life.
The songs then move into more upbeat, hip-hop, R&B-esque; melodies. “Leave the Night On” and “House Party” are songs that make even the most boring, non-dancers want to get up and dance. (It’s helps he’s attractive as well.)
The reason the album has had such huge success already is because of songs like these. They appeal to all crowds and different types of music lovers. It speaks of breaking up and having to deal with the aftermath, as described in “Ex To See,” “Break Up in a Small Town” and “Make You Miss Me.”
Not to mention his chilling cover of Keith Urban’s “Cop Car” makes an appearance on the album, and it’s one that you don’t want to skip over.
At the end of the album, “Speakers” speaks to your emotions and senses. Hunt’s raspy voice sings about hanging out with a girl underneath the stars in the bed of a truck. If you weren’t in love with Hunt or country boys, you probably will be after this song. The chorus makes you want to just climb right up in that truck bed and snuggle up next to him:
“Baby your now on fire, girl your on fire
Out in the dark, wrapped up in the stars
So right, girl I’m so high
You and me, wild and free
Way out in the woods no body for miles
Love in the back of the truck with the tailgate down
Just us and the speakers on.”
Check it out the album and try to get a ticket into his sold-out show at the House of Blues in Dallas on Feb. 5, 2015.
