Walker Hayes

We've all heard about the qualms of breaking through in the music industry, as well as Nashville's infamous ten-year timeline. While there are plenty of stories of artists who have tried and failed, and several about the lucky few who have clawed their way to the spotlight, country music is also filled with stories of resilience.

One of those stories can be found as you pull back the layers of Walker Hayes.

Though his breakthrough moment came in 2021 with the release of his blockbuster single, 'Fancy Like,' his artistic journey dates all the way back to 2005 when he first rolled into Music City.

Raised in Mobile, Alabama as the youngest of nine kids, Hayes earned a music degree from Alabama's Birmingham-Southern College where he majored in piano. Though never intending to become a musician, Hayes' father encouraged him to try out performing, and after the artist bug bit, Hayes and his wife, Laney, were pulled to Nashville.

Hayes quickly landed a publishing deal and inked a record deal with Mercury before hopping over to Capitol Records, and his debut single, 'Pants,' came in 2010, reaching the 60th spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. A year later, his debut album, Reasons to Rhyme, produced little results apart from Hayes being dropped from the label.

In the years that followed, Hayes continued to write, eventually landing a publishing and production deal with Shane McAnally and SMACK/RareSpark in 2016.

Come 2017, after a long 6 years since his debut album, Hayes signed a deal with Monument Records, releasing his first single, 'You Broke Up With Me.' Marking his first top ten single, the now double-Platinum tune signaled Hayes' second chance at stardom and was followed by the release of his sophomore record, boom., which debuted at No. 6 on the Top Country Albums chart and peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard 200.

While the next few years saw a string of singles that never made their way onto the charts, everything came to a head for Hayes in 2021 with the Platinum-certified 'Fancy Like.'

The cornerstone of his third EP-turned-record, Country Stuff The Album, the single became a viral hit and a career-defining moment for the singer-songwriter, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on both the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, the former of which he topped for over 23 weeks.

Building his career on sounding completely different from everything else in the format, Hayes combines his speak-singing style with effortlessly catchy country pop sounds, culminating into one of the most unique voices in modern day country music.

It may have taken over ten years to get here, but Hayes' arrival at the forefront of the genre has been hard-earned and his legion of dedicated fans will continue to grow... and proudly do the 'Fancy Like' dance.