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Sam Hunt in Session

Bob hosts Georgia-born country singer Sam Hunt in session ahead of his European debut at the C2C festival in London and Glasgow.

Ahead of his European debut at the C2C festival in ten days time , Sam Hunt joins Bob in session from Nashville

For most of Sam Hunt's life, the Georgia-born country singer was better known for his arm than his voice. As a teenager in Cedartown, Georgia - the home of an adulterous sharecropper's daughter in an early Waylon Jennings murder ballad - his quarterback skills at football earned him a High School Heisman nomination, and when he attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he eventually won a starting job.

Before he left for college, however, Hunt stumbled upon a new passion. "I never saw myself as a musician or having any musical talent," he says between stops in his ongoing Lipstick Graffiti tour. "I was just killing time that summer, and a buddy had recently bought a guitar. I picked it up one day and on a whim thought, 'You know, I think I want to buy a guitar.'"

The next four years were devoted mostly to sports, studies (he began school as a philosophy major) and the sort of extra-curricular pursuits you'd expect of a six-foot-four varsity athlete. But any dorm-room downtime was spent mastering his new instrument. This set him apart from the rest of the team. "It was definitely different, because I didn't know anybody else who I played ball with who also played music," he says. "It took me a while to get over that."

Eventually, though, he shared a few songs with his roommates, and they encouraged him to book shows at bars around town. Less than a decade later, Hunt has become one of country music's most exciting new artists. His chart-topping debut album, Montevallo, owes as much to Drake and Adam Levine as Waylon and Willie, combining earnest storytelling with drum machine-driven pop production and R&B-influenced vocals.

57 minutes

Last on

Thu 3 Mar 2016 19:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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25/02/2016

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Loretta Lynn: In Conversation

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Music Played

  • Elvis Presley

    Heartbreak Hotel

  • Vince Gill

    Make You Feel Real Good

    • Down To My Lst Bad Habit.
    • MCA Nashville.
    • 005.

  • David Nail

    Nights On Fire

    • CD Single.
    • Humphead/Wrasse Records.
    • 001.

  • Sam Hunt

    House Party

    • Montevallo.
    • MCA NASHVILLE/UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP.
    • 003.

  • Kacey Musgraves

    Dime Store Cowgirl

    • Pageant Material.
    • Mercury Nashville.
    • 002.

  • Eric Brace & Peter Cooper

    John Wilkes Booth

    • C&O Canal.
    • Redbeet.
    • 002.

  • Willie Nelson

    Crazy

    • Mr Record Man.
    • Jasmine Records.
    • 023.

Broadcast

  • Thu 3 Mar 2016 19:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2