Walker Hayes

To build his thoroughly modern sound, Walker Hayes infuses country music’s time-tested themes—breakups, good times, even the genre itself—with slick pop melodies and an R&B-indebted vibe. Born Charles Edgar Walker Hayes in Mobile, Alabama, in 1979, he resettled in Nashville for a while in the 2000s. Despite the modest success of 2010 single “Pants,” a twanged-up, winking blast of bro country, Hayes eventually lost the Capitol Records deal he’d landed and ended up working at a Costco to support his family. But in 2017, his bouncy single “You Broke Up with Me,” featuring a simple, smooth, and irresistibly catchy whistle-and-guitar riff, hit the Top 10 of the Billboard country chart. The ensuing record, aptly titled boom., expanded on the single’s fresh sound and established Hayes as an artist with a gift for writing songs that stick in your head with the help of his dreamy vocals. In 2018, the reference-heavy “90’s Country” had him using his sweet pop sound to woo a potential lover by paying tribute to the tunes that led him to Nashville; and 2021’s “I Hope You Miss Me” found Hayes playing with more ambitious production, enveloping beachy guitar lines with spacey, jangly ambience.