Quotes from Walker Hayes

When I was at Capitol - and this was not Capitol's fault - I was aiming, you know. I would listen to country radio and go, 'What version of me does radio want?'

In my opinion, my business runs better when my family is a part of it, and I get to see my wife and kids; that makes me a better artist.

When I lost my first record deal, my wife and kids and I lost - I wouldn't say friends, but - we lost a lot people around us. They just vanished! They were nowhere to be found. I couldn't get a break, and I couldn't get people to even respond to my emails about songs, no matter how good something was.

That's kind of something we - my team and I - text each other a lot. Anytime something great happens, we're like, 'Hey, look, the song's #17. Boom!'

Talking about my addiction to alcohol is therapeutic. Most definitely telling everyone about it is as well.

All my life, I had loved music and been in choir, and I have a degree in music, but I never planned on doing it as a job. I had a realistic perspective on that. I thought maybe work at a church or be a teacher if you wanted to work in music.

My wife and I started dating in 11th grade.

I'm in the gym constantly.

What's great about being an opener is that even when you lose, you win. There's no pressure. And no expectations. If you sell merch, you're killing it. But when you headline, you have to sell those tickets.

When my voice isn't doing what I want it to do, it's crushing in the most heavy way possible.

I overuse words. My kids catch me saying stuff. They're like, 'Hey, you say that all the time.' 'Boom' is one of those things.

My wife is so sweet... she probably gets tired of me calling her with nothing to say, but she's always there for me.

It's relaxing to be around somebody that you don't have to try so hard around.

I felt the pressure to let go of music. I was like, 'It's just a hobby. It's just a dream I'm hanging on to, and my kids don't deserve having me have trouble taking care of them.'

I was a big athlete, but I think a lot of the things I did were because they were my false identity, if you will. They got me acceptance, and they got me that attention that I craved.

I love an imperfect rhyme.

I'm a tough, tough person. I always have been tough to embarrass, too.

I've always felt very insecure being around in-laws, even my siblings - like the guy who made a bad decision, or the guy who would never just fess up that I'm not good enough to make it, or I don't have what it takes.

I actually had publishers that would encourage me at times to keep it simpler, not pack in so much information, but I'm a fan of songs and movies and books that the second time you read them, you find more stuff that you missed, so I like to pay attention to that detail.

'You Broke Up With Me' was fun yet definitely addressed an inner emotion of mine.

For years, I wrote songs to try to get cuts or try to have hits or try to appease a label or to be famous. I was learning a lot of valuable tools about structure and how to articulate. I was getting really good at that.

One of the most humbling gigs I've ever had was I was paid by a neighbor to go get a dead bird out of her house. She was kind of a high up in the music business, and she knew that I needed cash, and I used to do some yard work for her.

Every time I've gone in to create music and felt free and felt like I was actually creating something, it's turned out something I'm really proud of, so I try to keep that as a tradition.

Tragedy levels the playing field.