Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road” is a monster hit! The song climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay Chart in just 12 weeks and is continuing to engage folks who streamed it nearly 12-million times last week. If you’re wondering how he came up with the song, he says the phrase “Body Like a Back Road” came first. The Georgia native wrote the song with his producer Zach Crowell and his songwriter friends Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne and the song seemed to just fall out.
“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. 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
“Body Like a Back Road” is the first release from his as-yet-to-be-titled forthcoming album.
In the song, he sings about going “15 in a 30,” which is what he named his upcoming tour. The trek, featuring Maren Morris, Chris Janson and Ryan Follese, will kick off June 1st in Cleveland, Ohio.
Audio / Sam Hunt says his smash hit, “Body Like a Back Road,” all began with a phrase before anything else.
DownloadSam Hunt (Body Like a Back Road started with a phrase) OC: …enjoyed it. 1:04
“You know, 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. 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.’ So, at that point, I was excited to put it out and fortunately folks have enjoyed it.”
