5 MINS WITH HAYDEN BLOUNT; AN AFTER-SHOW CHAT
Born and raised in the small town of Savannah, TN, Hayden Blount is an up and coming singer-songwriter described as “the real-deal epitome of a next-gen country outsider.” I caught up with him after his opening set at the Aly and Aj show at The Orange Peel on March 1st where I found him sitting by his own merch table lit up by moody yellow house lights and neon beer signs.
“So how long have you been doing this?”
“So I started playing the guitar in 2022 and then I put out my first song a year later. I Started touring in January of ‘25 and uhh..well, here we are!”
I mentioned how it was impressive that he’s already playing and singing so well let alone touring after such a short time.
:laughs: “yeah man I had a lot of free time”
“Is this tour for your first album? Second album?”
“So technically it’s my first album but, I have an EP out. That I call an EP anyway...most people would just call it an album so…I guess second album even though it’s technically the first”
Among his plain-spoken, from-the-heart songs, themes include heartbreak, going on dates, and livin’ & lovin’ in a small town. I was curious to see what song meant the most to him.
:Pauses to think: “ummm.. it’s a song called ‘Hope it was Fun’, which is gonna be the first single. It’s a…it’s kind of like, ya know, when you have that relationship that felt great at the time and you didn’t get what you wanted out of it, but…you kinda hope the other person did at least.Ya know, you hope they at least had fun"‘
This was day two of the tour with Aly and Aj on which he is continuing for the first half: Up until April 9th.
“If you could open up for anybody, someone that influenced you, who would it be?”
“Jason Isbell” he said almost instantly
I mentioned before our conversation that I hear his songs at work on the radio station (I work at Larry’s Music & Sound in Hickory) but didn’t realize who he was until I started hearing the songs live. I revisited this and asked him about his first guitar:
“The guitar that I learned to play on was actually like, a plastic toy guitar that was my sister’s. She was little and my Grandma got it for her for Christmas, it was like $50. But then, when I got better, my dad bought me a Martin Road Series guitar and that’s what I had for about a year until I bought myself a nicer one. (Hayden rocked a Gibson Hummingbird at the show)
“Shoutout to your local music store, was there one in particular that you shopped at when you were starting?”
“Well, we don’t have one! I do try to shop at as many mom and pop places as I can, though.”
I thanked him for the quick conversation and asked if he had anything to add or talk about before we finished up.
“Rock and Roll is coming back, 2026 is the new 1976, this new album is gonna be killer and I hope you enjoy it!”
Im excited to see where Hayden’s music takes him and wish him the best!
Below is a link to all of his socials and a video of his song “Good God, Hot Damn” from The Bonfire Sessions.