WHAT IT IS: Family man and country star Walker Hayes spent more than a decade trying to break into Nashville’s music scene. From graveyard shifts at Costco to becoming one of the two flagship artists signed to Monument, the Mobile, Ala., native made a name for himself with his debut album, boom, in 2017. The album, which he co-produced with Grammy-winning Shane McAnally, includes the RIAA double-platinum-certified hit “You Broke Up with Me.” That, coupled with his most recent singles, “Don’t Let Her” and “90’s Country,” and the third iteration of his direct-to-fan model of releasing new music, “8Track Vol. 3 Black Sheep,” have accounted for nearly 500m streams to date. With his genre-bending style and soul-baring subject matter, Hayes is carving out a new lane for himself.
SINGLE: “Trash My Heart”
TV: Premiered single on Fox’s new livestream series on 4/24; previously performed on NBC’s The Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America
LIVE: Forthcoming headlining Triple Play Tour; 2019 headlining Dream on It Tour; supported Kelsea Ballerini’s Unapologetically Tour, Thomas Rhett’s tour, more
INTERNET: 1.7m+ monthly Spotify listeners, 218k+ Instagram followers, 55.9k+ Facebook likes
RADIO: Impacting Country on 6/8
PRESS: Country Now, Music Row, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, People, American Songwriter, more
BOOKING: Aaron Tannenbaum/CAA
PUBLISHING: SMACK Songs
MANAGEMENT: Robert Carlton/SMACK