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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 20 december 2017
After Music Row rejection, Walker Hayes made a DIY studio

By KRISTIN M. HALL Pro Tools, a keyboard and who has another baby on
Associated Press a guitar. “You find yourself the way. He sings about
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — writing the truth, because taking his children to shop
Several years ago, produc- it’s like, ‘Well, I ain’t writ- at the dollar store and the
er and songwriter Shane ing for anyone but myself time a man from his church
McAnally met Walker anyway,’” said Hayes, 37, gave his family a minivan.
Hayes, a country singer as he sat in the storage He writes about quitting
from Alabama who was shed known as The Shack. drinking but keeping that
struggling to find a hit while “The delivery, the style, the one last beer bottle in the
signed to Capitol Records beats, I am going to make fridge.
Nashville. it all. I couldn’t hire a band. Country artists like Sam
“He had a song or two that So I was making a lot of Hunt and Thomas Rhett
hadn’t worked and they this stuff here in this shack. have opened the door to
were like, ‘We just need a Beating on this table, shak- Hayes, who finds more in-
hit,’” said McAnally, who ing that shaker, whistling. spiration in loops and beats
has written No. 1 songs with And really just having fun than twangy guitars.
Sam Hunt, Miranda Lam- making music ‘cause I just In this Dec. 11, 2017 photo, country singer Walker Hayes poses “Growing up all I cared
bert and Kenny Chesney. loved it.” Hayes went back for a portrait in New York to promote his latest album, “boom.” about in a song, before I
“There’s nothing organic or to McAnally two years ago Associated Press really listened to lyrics, was
honest about telling some- with a batch of new songs is signed to Monument Re- Dec. 8. The single isn’t too that beat,” Hayes said. “I
one that you just need a that were conversational, cords, a historic country la- much different from the didn’t want a pickup with
hit.” Hayes, who had a wife highly personal and sung bel dating back to the ‘50s demo version he made in mud tires. I wanted an old
and six kids, left Capitol af- like an Ed Sheeran track. that was relaunched by The Shack, complete with blazer with as many speak-
ter his record fizzled with no McAnally said no other Sony this year and led by his co-writers chattering to ers in the back as I could
radio success and took a country artist felt comfort- McAnally and Jason Owen. each other in the back- afford. I would even steal
side job at Costco to pay able singing Hayes’ songs, His first single, “You Broke ground as he recorded a them out of my brother’s
the bills. He kept returning which immediately raised Up with Me,” has pushed guitar riff and beatboxed car and pack them in
to a 160-square-foot stor- a flag in his mind. “What I into the Top 15 on the Bill- the rhythm. there. I remember sitting in
age shed behind his pub- am always drawn to is an board Hot Country Songs Hayes doesn’t write with a parking lot and turning
lisher’s Music Row office, artist that has songs that chart, fueled by strong digi- much bravado, prefer- my radio up and walking
where he set up a DIY stu- nobody else can perform,” tal song sales. His new al- ring the humor and striking down the street to see how
dio with an old version of McAnally said. Now Hayes bum “boom.” was released honesty of a dad of six kids far you could feel it.”q

Review: Book of celeb interviews

best enjoyed in small sips

Fair Editor-in-Chief Gray- (some more grudgingly
don Carter sets the stage than others).
for GW’s grandiosity, fol- The interviews serve as
lowed by the author’s own snapshots of the times,
introduction in which he and reading them five
reveals his path from Ja- or 25 years after the fact
maican schoolboy to self- proves amusing.
described “carnivore of We remember the film
popular culture” in “Any- or book or play one em-
one Who’s Anyone.” barked upon, now know-
In GW’s snappy Q&As, he ing if that was the project
asks much less about the that shot the star to even
In this Oct. 21, 2017, file photo, Lady Gaga performs during a stars’ latest work and in- higher fame or served as
hurricanes relief concert in College Station, Texas. stead charges with gusto the final flicker of a spiral-
Associated Press into the hidden corners of ing career.
Lady Gaga achieves ‘dream’ This cover image released their lives. In a bewilder- So tightly condensed are
ing way, his calculated GW’s lavish cajoleries and
with Las Vegas residency by Harper shows “Anyone ploys, cloaked sometimes prodding condescension
Anyone:
Who’s
The
Celebrity
Astonishing
Interviews, 1987-2017,” by in flattery and other times that the read can feel a
in outright mockery (“Do bit like drinking chardon-
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lady nouncement comes at the George Wayne. you think Hollywood thinks nay from a fire hose.
Gaga will join the list of end of a successful year for Associated Press you’re a has-been?”), pro- One Hollywood plastic
superstars with regularly the superstar that included By CHRISTINA LEDBETTER voke the famous to vulner- surgery anecdote slipped
scheduled shows in Las Ve- a stunning Super Bowl per- Associated Press ability. among the glamorous
gas in 2018, when she kicks formance and a sold-out Eagerly plucked from Before they realize it, pages of Vanity Fair proves
off a two-year residency in tour. the pages of Vanity Fair, they’re ticking off the deliciously interesting, but
December. MGM Resorts International the Daily Front Row and contents of their medi- placed between dozens
Gaga in a statement Tues- did not immediately an- R.O.M.E. and thrust into cine cabinets and casu- of other similarly flavored
day says it has been her nounce performance the public’s hands comes ally dishing on favorite ex- conversations, the result
“life-long dream” to per- dates at Park Theater. George (“GW”) Wayne’s husbands, girlfriends and seems crowded.
form in Las Vegas. She says The 5,300-seat venue is lo- collection of his favorite roommates. To better savor GW’s ill-
she is humbled to be join- cated at the Park MGM celebrity interviews con- Joan Rivers, Fabio, Ivana mannered, quick-witted
ing a historical line-up of casino-resort, formerly ducted over three de- Trump, Kathleen Turner tongue, keep this one
performers that include known as the Monte Carlo. cades. and Geraldo, among around to sip one sitting at
Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra It hosted the residencies of An apt forward by Vanity others, grace the pages a time.q
and Elvis Presley.The an- Cher and Ricky Martin.q