“They say you have your entire life to write your first record. I feel like I’ve had my entire life to dream about this headline tour,” says Hunter Hayes, who will top the 12th annual CMT On Tour this fall. Hayes’ Let’s Go Crazy Tour debuts October 10 in Knoxville, and will include 21 stops in 24 cities.
The dates mark Hayes’ second tour as a headliner, and his first in support of the new material on “Hunter Hayes (Encore),” a re-release of his self-titled debut due June 18. Preceded by lead single “I Want Crazy,” the 17-track set features nine exclusive songs and re-recordings. That includes turning the debut’s “What You Gonna Do” into a duet with Pistol Annies’ Ashley Monroe, who will also be the opening act for the Let’s Go Crazy Tour.
“This is gonna be my chance to finally put together a show with the production and the time I need, and I love that I get to pick an opening act like Miss Ashley to come be part of it,” Hayes says.
“Encore” is the result of meetings Hayes had with his label, Atlantic, at the end of 2012 shortly after he was the breakout star of the Grammy Nominations Concert on CBS, where he was also nominated for three awards including Best New Artist. “At first I had said, ‘This isn’t necessarily the right time for me to make a new record. I don’t want to rush it,'” Hayes recalls. “I love when records are forced to be done. But at the same time, you think about how they belong in a certain chapter, so this was a chance to sort of rewrite some of that history. I wanted to show people the evolution of the songs and what happens when I write at this period in my life.”
That includes “Crazy,” which he cowrote with singer-songwriters Troy Verges and Lori McKenna. The single climbs to No. 7 on Country Songs this week and No. 52 on the Hot 100, and Hayes says it’s “the most excited I’ve been to release a song ever. I don’t know what it is about that song, but it’s like showing everybody a new guitar. It’s a new stage set for everything else I get excited about.”
Other highlights include new songs “A Thing About You,” “Better Than This” and “Light Me Up” and re-recordings of “More Than I Should” and “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me,” the latter a duet with fellow Atlantic labelmate Jason Mraz.
Tickets for select dates go on sale June 14 at 10 a.m., with additional dates set for June 21, August 1 and September 13. More information can be found at HunterHayes.com and CMTonTour.com. Unique pre-sale codes can also be unlocked by downloading Hunter Hayes’ new mobile app or participating in the HH Code Race.
Concert Dates:
October 10: Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Auditorium
October 11: Savannah, GA – Johnny Mercer Theatre
October 12: Columbia, SC – South Carolina State Fair
October 17: Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
October 18-19: Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
October 24: Muncie, IN – Emens Auditorium at Ball State University
October 25: Chicago, IL – Rosemont Theatre
October 26: Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace Theater
November 1: Birmingham, AL – BJCC Concert Hall
November 2: Greensboro, NC – War Memorial Auditorium
November 8: Evansville, IN – The Aiken Theatre at The Centre
November 9: Cleveland, OH – State Theatre at Playhouse Square
November 10: Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
November 14: St. Louis, MO – Fox Theatre
November 15: Sioux City, IA –Orpheum Theatre
November 16: Omaha, NE – Orpheum Theater
November 20: Lafayette, LA – Heymann Performing Arts Center
November 22: Dallas, TX – Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie
November 23: Tulsa, OK – Brady Theater
December 4-5: Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
December 6-7: Kansas City, MO – The Midland by AMC