Hear a Sneak Peek of Sam Hunt’s New Single, ‘Kinfolks’
The wait for new Sam Hunt music is finally over. On Wednesday (Oct. 9) the superstar revealed plans to release…

Sam Hunt; Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for SiriusXM
The wait for new Sam Hunt music is finally over.
On Wednesday (Oct. 9) the superstar revealed plans to release a brand new single, “Kinfolks,” and even offered fans a quick teaser of the song.
The new track, which is all about taking a new flame back to your hometown, is the follow-up to Hunt‘s 2017 smash “Body Like A Back Road” 2018’s “Downtown’s Dead.”
“I want to introduce you to my kinfolks/ To my old friends/ To the house in the pines where the road ends/ 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 thinking that I want to introduce you to my kinfolks,” Hunt sings in the just-released clip of the song.
The superstar co-wrote “Kinfolks” alongside Zach Crowell, Jerry Flowers and Josh Osborne.
“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, whose platinum-selling debut album, Montevallo, was released on October 27, 2014, opened up about his recent hiatus from the spotlight in an in-depth interview with ET Canada.
“For a couple years there it was pretty intense and it was a drastic change of pace and a drastic lifestyle shift for me as somebody who had just been, not casually writing songs, I was working hard in Nashville, but I had a routine and I’d kind of settled into Nashville and it was home,” he shared. “And taking off on a bus and doing things like this… the interviews and talking about myself and my music, it was a lot for a couple years.”
Rather than let himself be consumed by his career, Hunt made a conscious decision to “take a step back.”
“I got to a point where I really didn’t feel like I was smelling the roses because it was happening so fast,” he explained, adding, “so I stepped back and kind of digested it all and kind of processed everything that had happened.”
Now ready to share his new music with the world, Hunt will release “Kinfolks” on Thursday (Oct. 10) at 5 pm ET.
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.