Since the release of his sophomore album in 2020, Hayden Baker has been hard at work immersing himself in the songwriting scene in Nashville. Those years of work now under his belt, Baker is ready to give listeners a full taste of that work with his new album, Barely Gettin’ By.
Featuring some of his strongest work to date, Baker’s newest effort packs a 14-song punch that features collaborations with Adam and Wade Hill, and impressively (and unbelievably to Baker), his hero and friend, Brad Paisley.
We chatted with Baker all about Barely Gettin’ By, the work he put into it, more new music and more!
Pro Country: You mentioned on social media that you have been working on and writing songs for your new album, Barely Gettin’ By, for about three years. With the album now out into the world, how validating is all the work you put into the album?
Hayden Baker: Very validating. This album is a product of three years of me learning how to be a writer and getting in the room with some of the best Nashville has to offer, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we came up with. This was also the first project we’ve done where I played and wrote every single guitar part (aside from Brad’s solos). The most fun thing about this project for me was wearing so many different hats as a studio guitarist.
PC: Two of the pre-release tracks from Barely Gettin’ By, “Leave the Rest Up to You” and “Something I Can’t Do,” have come out of the gate strong on Spotify and Amazon Music. How encouraging was the response to those songs as release day for the album was approaching?
HB: It’s always a plus when folks are excited about an album before it comes out like that. I’ve been lucky enough to have these songs land on some playlists, and from what I’ve heard, all the fans seem to think these songs are my best work yet. That’s what you hope for!
PC: You co-wrote “Ain’t Gonna Lay This Guitar Down” with Ronnie Dunn and Ira Dean of Trick Pony. What is it like to share a writing room with people who have had their level of successes in the music industry?
HB: That was in May of 2021 when we wrote that song. It was my first writing trip to Nashville right before I signed my first publishing deal, and Ronnie invited me out to his place to kinda throw me into the fire as a writer and see what I was made of. I remember it like it was yesterday. He suggested, since I’m a guitar picker, that we should write a song about that, so off we went on this idea about a girl who fell in love with you because you could pick a six string. The coolest thing about the whole thing was about halfway into us writing the song: Ronnie looked at me and said, “alright kid, come up with a lick for this song,” and the lick I played on the spot right there is the first lick you hear on the recording!
PC: “Tendency For Tennessee” is one of our favorite songs on Barely Gettin’ By, and is a song you wrote with Trick Savage and Scott Sean White. Can you take is in the room and talk about how the song came together?
HB: So “Tennessee” and “Ghosts” were both written on the same trip up to Scott’s house in Poetry, TX (yes you read that right). “Tennessee” was the first of four we wrote that trip, and if I remember correctly, Scott had the title and that hook idea. I started playing that intro you hear, and then Trick put the icing on the cake with that beautiful chord progression in the back half of the chorus. After a few hours, we had that one nailed down, and nothing really changed from the original worktape to the final recording. In fact, I even stole some of Trick’s guitar licks from that worktape and put ‘em on the record!
PC: “Don’t Meet Your Heroes” features your personal hero and friend, Brad Paisley. Can you talk about how Brad became a part of the song and what it means to have him on the album and to have the friendship you both have?
HB: This was something I never really thought was possible until just a couple months ago when I got his parts sent over. To be 26 years old, 6-7 years into your music career and have your guitar hero play on a song on your album with you is just unreal. I still can’t believe it. As far as how it came about, we were driving around downtown Nashville listening to his new album last spring and he asked what my plans were for the next record, and I threw it out there that it would be awesome to have him do an instrumental with me, and he said he’s in! Then one day at my house in Austin, I sat down with the Tele for about 30 minutes and this ridiculously structured guitar track came out! I went and cut my parts and then flew the track over to him and he smoked it!
PC: You included a cover of Brooks & Dunn’s “South of Santa Fe” on Barely Gettin’ By. What did you like about the song and what drew you to record it for the album?
HB: Adam and Wade Hill (The Hill Boys) are two of the most talented people I know, and some of my closest friends in this business. Adam actually plays fiddle for the Josh Abbott Band and is the fiddle player on over half of the songs on this album. I wanted to include those boys on a fun cover and have them lend their crisp, brotherly harmonies to it. We bounced a few ideas around of songs to do, and we landed on this one! I thought it would be a fun one to kinda strip back a little, and man we had a blast with it!
PC: You close Barely Gettin’ By with an original, acoustic gospel song, “Walk With Me Jesus.” How special is that song to you and how important was it for you to close the album on that note?
HB: More important than anything else. I knew I wanted to close the project with a gospel tune, but couldn’t decide if I should do a standard or try to write one. Then one day I sat down and this song came out in less than an hour. It’s the most honest song I’ve ever written. The liners may say I wrote this one myself, but I assure you there was someone else in the room that day.
PC: What do you hope listeners take away from Barely Gettin’ By after listening all the way through?
HB: I hope they have fun! This project doesn’t take itself too seriously until you get to the end. This album was so much fun to write and record, so I just hope everyone has a blast listening to these songs!
PC: With Barely Gettin’ By now released, what do you have planned for the rest of 2024?
HB: I’m gonna continue writing a ton. I’ve already got a good bit of songs in the can from the last 6-8 months, but we’re gonna continue to add to that in between this record and the next. There’s some talks about going in and cutting an acoustic album too with some old and new songs. Who knows!
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