A songwriter utterly unbound by the conventions of country music, Sam Hunt has transformed the sound of his genre more than any artist of his generation. Hunt’s deliriously catchy songs—often offered in a breezy half-sung, half-spoken cadence—have the sleek polish of postmillennial hip-hop and R&B. And while genre-bending experiments in country music are nothing new, Hunt’s gift is his fluency with so many styles—he cites both Usher and Conway Twitty among his early influences. The Georgia-born singer moved to Nashville in 2008 after an unsuccessful bid to become a pro football player, then scored a record deal after co-writing hits for Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, and Keith Urban. With its clever songs about rowdy weekends and heartland romance, Hunt’s 2014 debut, Montevallo, combined the spirit of old-school country heroes with sequenced beats and glittering production. Tunes like “Break Up in a Small Town” and “Leave the Light On" are an earnest and urbane counterpoint to the guitar-driven party anthems that dominated ‘10s charts. Hunt doubled down on this formula with the sly 2017 single “Body Like a Back Road,” which topped the Billboard Hot Country chart for a record-setting 34 weeks. Like many other tunes on 2020’s Southside, it blends instrumental twang, crackling hi-hats, and R&B shimmer, helping Hunt secure his place as an ambassador for country music’s sleek modern era.