Sam Hunt Releases New Song, ‘Kinfolks’

New music from Sam Hunt is finally here, with the singer releasing new single “Kinfolks” on Thursday, Oct. 10.

“When I think of ‘kinfolks,’ when I think of that phrase, I think of my family, but also I think of my people back home – beyond family,” Hunt shared in a press release. “It’s my buddies who’ve been a part of my story from the beginning. I’ve made a lot of new friends and met a lot of new people who are important to me since I’ve moved away, but that core group is still my core group. It’s like that old saying, ‘you can’t make old friends.’”

Hunt wrote “Kinfolks” with longtime collaborators Zach Crowell, Jerry Flowers and Josh Osborne, and the pop-country sound is consistent with the hits Hunt has released in the past.

“I wanna introduce you to my kinfolks/ To my old friends/ To the house in the pines where the road ends,” he sings in the song’s chorus. “Take you to my hometown, where I grew up/ Where I thought I knew it all before I knew what love was/ Gave up on it, but honey you got my hopes up/ And I’m thinkin’ that I wanna introduce you to my kinfolks.”

The 34-year-old began teasing his new song on Instagram last week, sharing a series of photos of small town settings with lyrics in the caption.

For all his success, Hunt has released just one studio album, 2014’s Montevallo. In recent years, he has released a pair of singles including 2018’s “Downtown’s Dead” and the massive 2017 hit, “Body Like a Back Road.” He has also played other new songs during live shows including “Sinning With You,” which he debuted at a Canadian Club show last month.

The singer is currently in the studio finishing up his new album, which is expected in early 2020.

“We have four songs finished, so I’ve got another handful to go. We’ll be recording through October, November,” Hunt told Billboard last month, adding that he’ll be turning the project in to his label on Jan. 1.

As for what fans can expect, the Georgia native revealed that despite his marriage to wife Hannah Lee Fowler, there won’t be many romantic ballads on the upcoming album.

“I don’t write a lot of love songs, for whatever reason,” he admitted. “I need adversity to find inspiration and I don’t have a whole lot of turmoil in my love life right now. It’s pretty steady, so I’ve had to try to find inspiration. A lot of it had come from the transition that I’ve gone through from being in my 20s and single for a lot of that time to being in a committed relationship with somebody who I know will be with me for the long haul. It’s not necessarily reflective of where I am now. I guess the songs are more a reflection of the transition.”

Hunt also shared that he won’t be attempting to cross over into the pop world and is firmly rooted in the country genre.

“Especially as I get older, I don’t see myself going towards the pop world,” he said. “I definitely, if anything, will slide back into even a more traditional sound. I like the idea of being adventurous and finding new ways to combine styles and to try to come up with something new and fresh. So that is important to me, but I don’t see myself actively trying to cross over.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Scott Dudelson