Hayes takes New Artist honor

The 21 Project

It's impossible to not be impressed with the variety Hunter Hayes has packed in his brief, seven-song "The 21 Project." The diminutive singer/songwriter proves himself to be the master of multiple song styles - even with such a short project. Each song is presented three times (studio, acoustic and live). Perhaps Hayes' greatest lyrical character trait is empathy, which he reveals again with "Where It All Begins," a track he both wrote and recorded with superstar ...

Storyline

A few things changed since Hunter Hayes debuted in 2011, but the bottom line remains the same - Hayes has a syrupy smooth and sweet voice, but there's not a tremendous amount of depth there to his feel good material. Hayes struck it rich the first time out on his major label debut garnering 3 top 10 songs including "I Want Crazy." The Louisiana native also was a one-man band playing and singing all parts. That's not the case this time as he ceded CO-directorial control to Dann Huff. ...

Encore (deluxe)

Hunter Hayes rereleased his debut self-titled album with a few additional tracks and three rerecorded ones. In any other genre of music, the new songs would have simply been released as an EP, but for some inexplicable reason, country music seems to be reluctant to embrace that form. The 800,000 fans who already own the original may find it irritating to pay full price for 5 new songs. People who have not warmed up to Hayes maple syrup smooth voice and decidedly pop version of country probably ...