Walker Hayes
Charles Edgar Walker Hayes (born December 27, 1979 in Mobile, Mobile County) is a country pop singer and songwriter.
Hayes was born into a blended family with eight older half-siblings. He followed his girlfriend, Laney Beville, to college at Birmingham-Southern. He started out as a biology major, but with the support of piano professor William DeVan he switched to music and and graduated in 2002 with a bachelor of arts.
Hayes and Beville married in 2004 and relocated to Nashville in 2005. He found work as a songwriter for a publishing house and later signed a contract with Mercury Records Nashville. He was quickly dropped, but then picked up by Capitol Records Nashville. He released a single entitled "Pants" in 2010, which was featured on the album Reason to Rhyme.
In 2014 Hayes co-wrote and provided guest vocals for Colt Ford's "Dirty Side" and Rodney Atkins' "Eat Sleep Love You Repeat". After he was dropped by Capitol he took a job at a Costco discount store. In 2016 he signed a publishing and production contract with producer Shane McAnally's SMACKManagement which resulted in two EPs released by Rarespark Media Group.
In 2017 he released a second album, Boom on Monument Records. He followed that with the 2021 EP Country Stuff, which featured the breakthrough song "Fancy Like" which topped the Hot County chart and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was awarded "Top Country Song" at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards. The EP was expanded into a full-length album in 2022.
Walker and Laney Hayes currently reside in Thompson's Station, Tennessee with their six children.
Discography
- Walker Hayes (2010) "Walker Hayes" (EP). Capitol Records
- Walker Hayes (2011) Reason to Rhyme Capitol Records
- Walker Hayes (2016) "8Tracks (Vol. 1): Good Shit" (EP) SMACKSongs/RareSpark
- Walker Hayes (2016) "8Tracks (Vol. 2): Break the Internet" (EP) SMACKSongs/RareSpark
- Walker Hayes (2017) Boom Monument Records
- Walker Hayes (2019) "8Tracks (Vol. 3): Black Sheep" (EP) Monument Records
- Walker Hayes (2021) "Country Stuff" (EP) Monument Records
- Walker Hayes (2022) Country Stuff the Album Monument Records
- Walker Hayes (2023) New Money RCA
References
- "Walker Hayes" (October 9, 2023) Wikipedia - accessed October 13, 2023
- Colurso, Mary (October 12, 2023) "Walker Hayes recalls favorite teacher, late night snacks at Birmingham-Southern College." AL.com