Watch Sam Hunt’s ‘Downtown’s Dead’ Video

Sam Hunt has just released the video for “Downtown’s Dead.” The song is his latest single from his upcoming, still-untitled album.

In the video, Hunt can be seen riding his motorcycle through a dusty Mexico town, showing off the country’s beautiful hidden landscapes, while he sings lines like, “Downtown’s dead without you / Girls walk by and friends say hi /Then Friday night it might as well be just another / Tuesday night without you.”

Written by Shane McAnally, Zach Crowell and Josh Osborne, the tune resonated instantly with Hunt, even though it’s one he didn’t write.

“It checked all the boxes that I needed to check in a song, and I felt like it was lyrics that are lyrics I felt comfortable saying,” Hunt says. “The idea I thought was relatable to people, and it just sounded like a song that people would come out to shows to sing and would inspire people to come out to shows.”

The 33-year-old set a chart record with “Body Like a Back Road,” which stayed at the top of the charts for 34 weeks. But, like his previous hit, Hunt relied on instinct more than any formula for success.

“It’s hard for me to really say for sure what made that song stand out,” says Hunt of “Downtown’s Dead.” “I could break it down, I guess theoretically, but I just have those moments where there’s just a gut feeling that says, ‘OK, this is the song you should put out. This is how you need to say it. This is what you need to say. This is how it should sound,’ and when I get to that point, then I put it out. That song was the one that sort of rose up from the batch that I’ve been working over the past year or two.”

“Downtown’s Dead” is already in the Top 15, but his next set of tunes might be the last we hear from Hunt for a while. The Georgia native hints that he might be done making music for a while.

“I don’t know where my career will go from here, but my sole focus hasn’t been on making music all the time like it was in my 20s,” Hunt tells Yahoo!. “I’m not writing as many songs. My interests have changed.”

Hunt is currently serving as the opening act on Luke Bryan’s What Makes You Country Tour. Find a list of all of his upcoming shows at SamHunt.com.

Download “Downtown’s Dead” on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason Kempin