Country Star Sam Hunt Releases ‘Locked Up’, Draws Influence From Johnny Cash

Sam Hunt releases his latest single Locked Up and pays tribute to the classic country outlaw idea of being stuck behind bars – but does so in the distinctly smooth contemporary Sam Hunt country style. Sam co-wrote the song with Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Jerry Flowers and his producer Zach Crowell.

Sam shares: “I had that title in my phone. I wanted to write a song called ‘Locked Up,’” He continues: “I had no idea about what it may be about, although I have had a few run-ins with the law in my lifetime. My producer was playing me some music, he had built some tracks and was playing through a few songs, and I was looking at my phone, and I saw the title in the songs. The music sounded like the title, which is always a good start, and I just started singing that chorus. I think I filled in, 30-40 percent of the lyric in one take.”

The single, of course, draws inspiration from Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues and Sam looked to further pay tribute to Cash in the official video. He notes: “So, we found a really cool old prison in East Tennessee, and we had this idea originally to recreate the Johnny Cash Folsom Prison concert that he did back in the day and dressed up in all black, a suit, and I got a bunch of local guys to come out and dress up as inmates and had a really good time with it, sort of a period piece idea, I guess you could call it. I don’t know if I did Johnny Cash justice. I doubt I did, but I enjoyed making the video and had my family out there with me and met a lot of cool folks who came out to help us with this video, so that was one of the more fun video experiences I’ve had.”

Sam films the video in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee with director Tim Mattia and brings in his wife Hannah to co-star in the video.