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" From the May 2013 issue For the Uninitiated: This twenty-one-year-old country phenom was nominated for Best New Artist at this year&amp;#039;s Grammys, but he ain&amp;#039;t really new. Hayes joined his first band at four and performed with Hank Williams Jr. and Charlie Daniels before graduating elementary school. For his self-titled major-label debut, he wrote or co-wrote all the songs, served as coproducer, and played more than thirty instruments. The album spawned three massive country-radio hits, and he&amp;#039;s logged more than two hundred dates a year on the road. On Growing Up Country: &amp;quot;Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it \u2014 some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to find somewhere for a bluesy guitar sound, because that&amp;#039;s also what I love. Musically, I&amp;#039;m always finding my way home.&amp;quot; On Playing Live: &amp;quot;The stage is my comfort zone, and playing live is what I&amp;#039;ve always wanted to do. It&amp;#039;s why I want to do two hundred dates a year. I wouldn&amp;#039;t feel that way if I were nervous onstage. These days, we play a two-and-a-half-hour headlining show. We have a song with a twenty-minute outro on it. Things evolve and I love that.&amp;quot; Tell Us More About That: &amp;quot;Country music busts the wall between performer and audience. There&amp;#039;s a connection because there&amp;#039;s a vulnerability, a confessional quality, to so much of the songwriting. Those lyrics take you in.&amp;quot; What He&amp;#039;s Listening To: MercyMe, &amp;quot;So Long Self&amp;quot;; Lori McKenna, &amp;quot;Ladders and Parachutes.&amp;quot; Above: Leather jacket ($2,075) by Dolce &amp;amp;amp; Gabbana; denim shirt ($760) by Dior Homme; cotton jeans ($90) by Kill City; sneakers by Converse. Below: Leather sneakers ($325) by Rag &amp;amp;amp; Bone. Next: Fitz and the Tantrums Also from the May 2013 issue&amp;#039;s music portfolio:  Gary Clark Jr.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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