Sam Hunt released his debut album, Montevallo, this week, and he chose the songs on it very carefully as it related to his life, and how they were slightly different from each other.

“These 10 songs were the songs that I absolutely HAD to put on the record. I didn’t want to overwhelm people with a ton of songs. I wanted them to really digest these songs,” says Sam. “You only get one first album, and these are the songs I feel like best represented the era of writing my first album. Every song is a little bit different. The other songs that I have would have been a slight version of something that’s already on the record, so I wanted to keep it unique in that way.”

The first single from Montevallo, “Leave the Night On,” is poised to top the country charts next week.

Sam Hunt (song choices) OC: …in that way. :52
“I had about 14 or 15 songs ready when I went to make the record. I couldn’t decide, after the first 10, I couldn’t decide what to pick. So, at the end of the day, these 10 songs were the songs that I absolutely HAD to put on the record. I didn’t want to overwhelm people with a ton of songs. I wanted them to really digest these songs especially. So, I just stuck with 10. I don’t know what plans will be in the future as far as putting out new music, but hopefully I’ll be able to put out music sooner than later, because I want to continue to write and I do have songs that folks haven’t heard. You only get one first album, and these are the songs I feel like best represented the era of writing my first album. Every song is a little bit different. The other songs that I have would have been a slight version of something that’s already on the record, so I wanted to keep it unique in that way.”