Sam Hunt’s sophomore album SOUTHSIDE races up to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart as the best country album debut of 2020 with sales tallying over 45,900. SOUTHSIDE marks Hunt’s second consecutive debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and second consecutive Top 5 debut on Billboard’s Top 200. Including album tracks “Drinkin’ Too Much,” “Downtown’s Dead” and the record-breaking “Body Like A Back Road,” it brings the new album to over 1 Million cumulative album equivalent units.
Hunt appears tonight (April 13) on CBS’ Late Night with Stephen Colbert performing his latest Top 15 hit “Hard To Forget.” Including “Hard To Forget,” the tune NPR calls a “Song of the Summer-contending singalong,” SOUTHSIDE features 12 songs, all written by the multi-Platinum-selling star.
The New York Times says SOUTHSIDE is “a reminder that Hunt is a Nashville provocateur who can write better songs than almost everyone he’s trying to provoke,” while Rolling Stone pegs Hunt as “an innovator who has remade country in his own image and also figured out how to reclaim its past.” Billboard notes, “his ace storytelling and ability to incorporate hip-hop influence into a more modernized form of country are still intact,” and Stereogum indicates, “Hunt’s formidable charisma and world-building ability” as the through lines of SOUTHSIDE. The album has also earned praise from American Songwriter, Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, NPR and more. Listen to SOUTHSIDE HERE.
Hunt offers fans the stories behind the album “that will get you choked up between sing-alongs” (Billboard) with an enhanced SOUTHSIDE album playlist on Spotify. Listen HERE.
The Southside Summer Tour moves kickoff to July 10 in Bangor, Maine out of an abundance of caution for fans, crew and venue staff. Rescheduled dates include Toronto (Aug. 26), St. Louis (Sept. 3), Milwaukee (Sept. 4), Detroit (Sept. 5), Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (Sept. 6), Charlotte (Oct. 1), Raleigh (Oct. 2), Bristow, Va. (Oct. 3), West Palm Beach (Oct. 8), Tampa (Oct. 9) and Atlanta (Oct. 10). Full tour schedule below.
The Southside Summer Tour Schedule:
July 10 Bangor, Maine
July 11 Gilford, N.H.
July 17 Camden, N.J.
July 18 Mansfield, Mass.
July 19 Hartford, Conn.
July 24 Wantagh, N.Y.
July 25 Columbia, Md.
July 26 Virginia Beach, Va.
Aug. 6 Rogers, Ark.
Aug. 7 Southaven, Miss.
Aug. 8 Pelham, Ala.
Aug. 14 Holmdel, N.J.
Aug. 15 Burgettstown, Pa.
Aug. 16 Cincinnati, Ohio
Aug. 20 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Aug. 21 Fishers, Ind.
Aug. 22 Des Moines, Iowa
Aug. 26 Toronto, Ont.*
Aug. 27 Darien Center, N.Y.
Aug. 28 Syracuse, N.Y.
Aug. 29 Hershey, Pa.
Sept. 3 Maryland Heights, Mo.*
Sept. 4 Milwaukee, Wisc.*
Sept. 5 Clarkston, Mich.*
Sept. 6 Mt. Pleasant, Mich.*
Sept. 10 Austin, Texas
Sept. 11 The Woodlands, Texas
Sept. 12 Dallas, Texas
Sept. 17 Wheatland, Calif.
Sept. 18 Mountain View, Calif.
Sept. 19 Irvine, Calif.
Sept. 24 Chula Vista, Calif.
Sept. 25 Phoenix, Ariz.
Sept. 26 Albuquerque, N.M.
Oct. 1 Charlotte, N.C.*
Oct. 2 Raleigh, N.C.*
Oct. 3 Bristow, Va.*
Oct. 8 West Palm Beach, Fla.*
Oct. 9 Tampa, Fla.*
Oct. 10 Alpharetta, Ga.*
* indicates rescheduled tour date
Please note the June 20 Tinley Park, Ill. tour stop is canceled.
All tickets purchased for The Southside Summer Tour dates will be honored for the rescheduled dates. For any ticket inquiries, fans are advised to reach out to point of purchase.
For information on Sam Hunt, visit www.SamHunt.com.
Audio / Sam Hunt says he wrote most of the songs on Southside in a year.
DownloadSam Hunt (wrote most of the songs in a 12-month period) OC: …the year best. :51
“On this record I didn’t really have a clear well-defined message before I started writing the songs for the record. I didn’t know what story I wanted to tell or how I wanted the songs to fit. I wanted to make a record with continuity within the record. I didn’t want to pull from older songs or piece together a record from songs written at a previous time in my life. I decided I wanted to write this record within a 12-month period, and I did that throughout the year 2019. Those are the songs that came from 12 months of writing. I ended up with more songs, but these are the ones that really, I feel like captured the year best.”
