Hunter Hayes

“I started writing when I was around 6. I say 'writing,' but it was really just making up stuff! I started writing and doing my own thing. I didn't really know what a demo was or anything lik...”

“Growing up in Louisiana, my grandmother gave me an accordion because of our Cajun heritage. What ended up happening was I started learning about more instruments, so I just kind of went that...”

“My first instrument was an accordion. Growing up in Louisiana, my grandmother gave me an accordion because of our Cajun heritage.”

“Robert Duvall saw me playing at a restaurant in Louisiana and invited me to be an extra in his movie 'The Apostle.' He gave me a guitar for my sixth birthday, and I thought that was the cool...”

“I've got some crazy, stupid big goals. I really wanna headline arenas. I wanna have such a big crew that we've got to have 20 or 30 buses on the road because that's how big the show we're pu...”

“All my band members were old enough to be my dad. It was like this family vibe.”

“A bass player has to think and play like a bass player. A drummer has to play and think like a drummer, and stay out of the way of the vocalist. The guitar player has to respect everybody el...”

“Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it - some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to fin...”

“Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it - some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to fin...”

“I always loved LeAnn Rimes and especially Clint Black for his soulfulness. As I've gotten older, my influences have broadened - John Mayer, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, Stevie...”

“When I was in high school, I had binders with pictures of tour buses.”

“Albums are chapters. They're part of a story.”

“I believe when you meet the right person it clicks, and you both know and you start making it work, you know?”

“I've always been shy, but I see that as a good thing because it kept me focused on music. When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I g...”

“When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies an...”

“When I was 13 or 14, I took seven months off from touring. I did a lot of weekend gigs in Louisiana. We have fairs and festivals every weekend. But I took seven months off. That's when I rea...”

“I'm in my dream world.”

“'Encore' was an experiment. 'Encore' was the second chance at a first impression. 'Encore' was not completely planned.”

“I love the practicality of a good car. You know what I mean? And when I say 'practicality,' I mean the complete practicality of a Ferrari 458, a wonderfully fantastic every day car.”

“I am, by nature, a guitar player... I learned all of these other instruments around that, and around the theory that I built learning the guitar.”