The man. Hunter Taylor may not only be the funniest guy in Nashville, but maybe in the entire world. You get a glimpse of his sense of humor and get to know a little more about Hunter and his newfound journey as he released his debut single on the first of July. I sat down with Hunter and talked about his debut single "Footstomper #9", how he builds industrial sewing machines and about his craziest night in Nashville. And yes, it's crazier than yours.
Get To Know Hunter
"I come from Middle Tennessee, grew up in Fairview which is 30 minutes west of Nashville. That's where all of my people come from; we can't even trace our family out of that town. The rumor has it, my great granddad owned a liquor store and my dad's grandfather and my mom's grandfather kept him in business because they drank so much. Lived out there and moved into Nashville when I was 12 years old. I went to Lipscomb for middle and high school then went to Lipscomb University for college. I studied music production in their contemporary music program and graduated with that degree.
From there, and through Covid, I built industrial sewing machines and now do that full time. I've been doing that about as long as I've been doing music. After Covid ended, I started going around to bars and picking up gigs, put together a band and started making some money. Now we are moving on and I’ve got a song out."
Get Those Dancin' Boots On
Hunter Taylor said he came out of the womb listening to Country Music and this jam solidifies that. Perfect for a Saturday night filled with foot stomping', drinking ice cold beer and getting fired up to some honky tonk music. Hunter's debut single shows his potential in Country Music, as (I believe) the traditional sound is making a comeback and is cool again. I wouldn't be surprised if "Footstomper #9" is playing in every damn "hole in the wall" across the country. To put the cherry on the top, I've seen Mr. Taylor perform live and golly is he electric. Hunter really gets the crowd going. If you live in Nashville it's a must to see Hunter live.
Inspiration Behind "Footstomper #9"
Written By: Hunter Taylor & Cindy Morgan, Produced By: Zach Manno
"Well, "Footstomper #9" is a song I wrote with my dear friend Cindy Morgan. She was one of my teachers at Lipscomb University for a songwriting ensemble. We scheduled a write after I graduated and had written a song previously. This was our second write and I came in there singing "I knew you were trouble". I had it in two different forms and took that into her. She played a big role in hashing that song out. Cindy plays great Folk and Christian music and I believe that's what she releases. Cindy has this "from the hills" kind of music and creates melodies that I just love. I also had been listening to a lot of Ricky Skaggs at the time. We went in there in and wrote it. Nowhere in the song does it say "Footstomper #9". Other titles I had for it, like "Barefooted Women" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", I just didn't like any of them. This is some Honky Tonk Stuff man, and it's what I live and breathe for. I had seen a lot of Blue Grass standards like "Blue Yodel #9" and others similar to that, I was like "Footstomper #9"... "and I was like should I go with #9?" I decided "no, it's going to be #9".
Q & A With Hunter Taylor
Q: What was that "light bulb moment" that you knew you wanted to pursue music?
A: "When I got started it was because of my brother. He plays a lot of music and he's a big songwriter. He's shown me so much about songwriting as I was coming up. I started playing more when I was 18. Through that whole college experience, I fell into studying music. I was doing marketing and other classes and I told myself "I totally don't want to do this". I didn't love taking generic classes that make you sit in a classroom all day. The music program with contemporary music started the semester I enrolled there. My mom worked at Lipscomb, told me about it and I was like "screw it bro, I'll go study music". I was working on sewing machines in my off time, which not a lot of people know how to do. My thought process was I would build sewing machines and study music. I graduated and learned a lot. I decided I was going to start smokin' them after Covid. My good friend Sam (Shelton) has played a big role in my music career. We were brainstorming on how to make an album, get some photographs made and start making some moves. Once Covid was over I started lighting it up playing some writer's rounds and I told Sam it was “go time”. I have a lot of friends that do music and they have really helped me out, cut me some slack and got me into some shows."
Q: What was that first song/artist/album that really attracted you to Country Music?
A: "I'm not going to lie to you Jamie, I wish I could answer this question properly, but buddy Country Music was born into me. My momma didn't play anything but Country Music when I was growing up. Even before I came along that's all that was playing. I know I was listening to it when I was getting created. I came out with a hankering for it. The one I always go back to was Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now?" which I sang in my Kindergarten talent show. I listened to a lot of Toby Keith and Alan Jackson growing up. I'll listen to songs now that came out in the 90's and would be a 1 hit wonder, but I would see the artists name and it would click for me what song it was. My favorite of all-time is Alan Jackson, he rocks. He has Country, Blue Grass, Gospel records and they all slap so hard. Toby Keith has been great too. Eric Church, I've really cut my teeth on all of his stuff. I started listening to his music right from the beginning up to his recent releases. Early Zac Brown Band - their records “Uncaged" and "Chief" dropped in the same year and those are two of the most monumental records of the decade. Every song on both those records will just slap ya in the face."
Q: What is your favorite thing about Nashville?
A: "I like just about everything about it. I’ve got my family here. I can go see my family anytime I'd like too, I don't see them as much as I would like, but they are just a hop and a skip away. My parents live about 15 minutes away from me so if I ever get hungry I can go home and get a sandwich from mom real quick. I love the tourists' fascination with Broadway. Most locals don't love it and it's not the "hot" thing to do, but I play honky tonk music for them and I drive one of those pedal taverns. Heck, they pay my rent most of the time. The fact that there is a place 15 minutes down the road that has a plethora of places to show off is great. I know the outskirts of Nashville as well and know all the sweet spots. I've never found a good reason to leave."
Q: What was your craziest night in Nashville?
A: "So one night, it was over in midtown. Some friends and I had gone swimming and we were at this hotel pool late at night. We jump in and are swimming around when all of a sudden we hear this growling noise and it sounds demonic. I was looking around and thought it was one of my buddies being weird or something. Turns out, it was this crazy drug infested man up on this wooden fence at the back of the pool swinging like a gorilla back and forth and is growling at us. I look and say "what the heck is that" and jump out of the pool. I'm telling my buddies to get out of the pool because this guy is crazy and I'm in my swim trunks, half naked. I'm not in the mindset to defend myself right now. I'm wet bro. It felt like I was getting out of the shower and seeing a serial killer, that's how I felt. I'm standing on the other side of the pool when this guy started talking to us and said this in a gremlin voice "DO YOU WANNA PLAY A GAME?"... it was weird. I replied "No, I don't want to play a game... go away". Then he says "we are going to play a game and I'm going to kill you". He's still swinging on the fence and I turned to my buddy and told him that this guy has put death on the table. I had nothing on me and he jumps down and runs behind the place and gets to the front gate. Finally a light bulb went off and I called the cops and said that he ran away and went and found one of his buddies down the street. My friend had a pool chair over his head ready to use it as a weapon."
If you are just discovering Hunter Taylor follow him on Apple Music, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok