The video for the country singer-songwriter Walker Hayes’ debut single “You Broke Up With Me” gives us insight into the long road to musical recognition with his album boom., his first Monument Records album. With an unusual sound and a history peppered with broken record deals , Hayes was ready to keep the day job. Grammy Award-winning producer Shane McAnally recognised his talent and took him away from the Costco produce freezer, where he worked the 4-10 a.m. shift. The video for “You Broke Up With Me” shows his old life before his big break.
“You Broke Up With Me,” is unusual and not what you might expect from a Nashville country record. However the track perfectly fits in with the towns current experimentation with pushing the boundaries of country with rock, pop and rap. The song illustrates Walker’s turnaround in fortune and is a kind of a shrug to those people who didn’t stick by his side during the hard times. He says:
“A lot of people kind of showed up out of the woodwork after four or five years. Then they tried to make me feel guilty when I didn’t want to have coffee or something with them, and I’m like man, you guys broke up with me.”
And a song was born!