| @walkerhayes | facebook.com/walkerhayes  With a honey-smooth
voice and a gently edgy songwriting approach, country singer
Walker Hayes works to the Keith Urban side of things, where pop
and country merge with a dose of rock attitude into the emerging
21st century version of commercial country. Born in Mobile, AL,
Hayes grew up in a large blended family and learned to play
piano early, and while he was a regular participant in choirs,
choral groups, and musical theater, most of his attention went
to sports, primarily basketball and track. Eventually music went
from being Hayes' fallback plan to his main interest, and he
earned a music degree with an emphasis on piano at Alabama’s
Birmingham-Southern College before moving on to attend the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He moved with his
wife to Nashville in 2004, and even though he had only written a
couple of songs, he began to study the craft and within a year
he had a publishing deal. When a demo intended for Keith Urban
that featured Hayes'