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Any musician who has ever felt compelled to fill time between songs at a concert by talking to the crowd has asked some variation of, "Is everybody having a good time out there?"
For rising country star Hunter Hayes, it's not rhetorical banter.
Yes, he's been playing music since his age was in single digits, and yes, he's now translated his songwriting prowess into the ability to make a decent living, but if the 25-year-old Louisiana native and Nashville transplant isn't having fun doing it, he can't really imagine what the point would be.
"The stage is my happy place, that's where I can really, really, truly be myself. And if I just keep chasing that feeling … it was never really about anything other than that, luckily," he told The Tribune in a phone interview. "It was just something I really loved doing. And just something I had a lot of fun doing. Honestly, that's kind of the test — if I'm doing it right, it should still feel that way. There's days where it's a business, but I hope the majority of the days are days that I'm just having fun and still being a kid, even at 25."
Hayes' inner child should have a great time Saturday night, when he's slated to appear at the 37th annual Stadium of Fire entertainment-and-fireworks spectacular at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. Fellow country stars Little Big Town headline, and comedian Brian Regan rounds out the bill.
Hayes is already a five-time Grammy nominee with two platinum albums to his credit, one of which went to No. 1. He's best known for hits such as "Wanted," "I Want Crazy" and "Invisible."
Despite so much success during his formative years, he has managed to keep a level head.
"The six or seven years that I've been professionally doing this, or whatever you want to call it, I think it's just given me a great perspective," he said. "Really just focusing on what, in the morning, gets me excited. I call it my 'kid self.' It gives me a lot of joy — just making noise and writing music. Making sure that I'm always staying true to that and not trying to reshape that for any other purpose."
The most resonant takeaway for him has been to remain authentic and committed to his vision.
"Honestly, it's just been a lot of transparency lessons — being caught up in being what you think you're supposed to be, or how you think you're supposed to write. There's so many days where you walk into a writing session where you're like, 'Oh yeah, well we probably need to write this.' No you don't. You write what you write," Hayes said. "By the end of the day, you figure out that that's a very short drive to where you think you're going. … That's why you wind up having to write nine songs to get to the 10th one that really matters."
His penchant for channeling his inner Sinatra and doing things his way has manifested itself in other facets as well.
He's renowned for his musical abilities (he played everything on his debut self-titled album) and is said to have some 30 instruments in his arsenal.
And while he downplays his skill level on them — "Calling myself a professional, or even proficient, on any of those instruments is not anything that I'm interested in at all!" — the bigger point is that it illustrates his willingness to try virtually anything to achieve a result he's happy with.
"You've gotta understand, I grew up in a ProTools era, where I can sit at home and record for hours and days and not lose tape, and not lose anything — I can fail as many times as I want to until I get it right," Hayes said. "I love being in a studio and creating, the demo process. There's a freedom to it, knowing that you can royally mess it up as many times as you want until you get it right."
It's an approach he's applying to releasing new music, too.
While a third album is under way, he noted "there's a bazillion different options" these days to get songs to fans, and so, "I plan on releasing music more often, and less systematically."
He issued three singles simultaneously last September ("Yesterday's Song," "Amen" and "Young Blood"); a fourth new track, "Rescue," comes out Friday.
As for future plans and goals, Hayes said his intent is simple: Keep doing what he's doing, and keep having fun doing it.
"Well, if you look at it from my perspective, everything that's happened is a total dream come true, right? It's a total, incredible experience. Everything's been absolutely beautiful. But at the same time, it's just been me doing my thing, me making music. I never assumed any of it would happen. So, ideally, if I'm doing it right, we just keep going. We just keep making music," he said. "The process doesn't change; the goals might get a little bigger, the dreams might get a little bigger, but the process and the music and the whole thing, it doesn't change. I started out just wanting to make music, just wanting to make the best and most transparent music I can make, and I kind of just want to keep doing that."
Twitter: @esotericwalden —
Featuring Little Big Town, Brian Regan, Hunter Hayes
When • Saturday, July 1, 8 p.m.
Where • LaVell Edwards Stadium, 1700 N. Canyon Road, Provo
Tickets • $29-$175; freedomfestival.org