Sam Hunt has a pair of CMA Awards nominations for Single and Song of the Year due to his huge hit, “Body Like a Back Road.” The song remained at the top of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs for 34 Weeks, breaking records and being certified 4x platinum by the RIAA.

Sam, who co-wrote the song with Zach Crowell, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, explains that “Body Like a Back Road” all started with a phrase.

“I try to think of titles or lines that’ll cross my mind and I’ll put ‘em in my phone, and this was one that I wanted to write for a while – the title ‘Body Like a Back Road’ – or use it as a lyric, do something with it. I didn’t have a melody, but one night this melody got stuck in my head and the phrase ‘Body Like a Back Road’ sang perfectly to it and the chorus came out pretty quick,” said Sam. “And then we went in and started working on the song with the producer and a couple of writing buddies, and I wanted to write it because I thought it was a fun song, but I didn’t know for sure if I wanted to put it out. I didn’t want it to come across as objectifying women or be too, to lack depth and just, I don’t know. So, anyway, I had some concerns, but I tried to make it fun to offset any risks of those things happening, which made writing it fun, and I think that came across in the lyric and in the way we recorded it and everything else. When we finally finished it, it finally hit me as ‘Ok. Wait a minute. Maybe I underestimated the potential of this song. I think this could be a fun song and it will connect with folks.’”

The 51st Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Area November 8th at 8pm ET on ABC.

Sam is also nominated for two American Music Awards for Favorite Male Artist – Country and Favorite Song – Country for “Body Like a Backroad.” The American Music Awards will air live from the Microsoft Theater in LA November 19th at 8pm ET on ABC.