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Sam Hunt: The Song He Felt He Would Not Put Out

Sam Hunt’s new song is a new track called “Liberty,” out now. Rooted in a dream of the future, Hunt envisions what life can look like with days focused on…

Sam Hunt sits on an old couch wearing a brown jacket and a blue button-down shirt.
Photo - Alysse Gafijen

Sam Hunt's new song is a new track called "Liberty," out now. Rooted in a dream of the future, Hunt envisions what life can look like with days focused on and filled with perseverance, purpose, and family.

Sam told us, "'Liberty' is a song that I wrote back during the pandemic. It’s a song that I never thought I would put out, but as time passed, I decided that it was timely and recorded it."

He added, "I flew home off the road this fall to get in the studio and get it recorded and get it out. So I’m proud of this one and happy to have it out."

The singer played a portion of “Liberty” acoustically on his socials last year after writing the tune with Zach Crowell, Chris LaCorte, Shane McAnally, and Josh Osborne.

Fans have called for the full version ever since first hearing Hunt sing the chorus: "Baby, give me liberty or give me death / Forty hours and a day of rest / Autumn leaves on these county roads / Grab a hand, y’all bow your heads / A bunch of kids, little fertile ground / Raise ’em up right, pass it down / Fences keep the cattle in / But they can’t hold the souls of men / Fences keep the cattle in / But they can’t hold the souls of men."

Hunt is the father of two kids: a toddler, his daughter Lucy Louise, and a baby, his son Lowery Lee. Since becoming a dad a few years ago, Sam tells us he has changed in many ways.

In a recent interview, Hunt said that change has even come in the way he writes music. He offered, "I think when you have kids, your heart grows. If your heart grows, you have more emotion to pull from. That's how I feel about having kids and writing songs."

Sam added, "I feel the well just got deeper, and I'm hoping that can translate into more meaningful songs, even if they are directly about fatherhood. I think they will be reflections of songs written by an artist who is also a dad."

Hunt posts a lot more about his growing family on social media than he ever did before. On his recently rough summer tour, Sam took his wife and two children on the road with him and did different activities every day in different cities they visited.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.

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