Walker Hayes and his family met Nick Saban, the longtime head football coach at the University of Alabama (since 2007), on Wednesday, May 18. In addition, Hayes’ team played “AA,” a Hayes’ track that name checks Saban, and noted his reaction.
Hayes posted a photo of himself and wife Laney beside Saban, writing, “she married way, way down in Alabama…,” referencing a lyric from “AA.”
Saban got to hear a snippet of Hayes’ song, “AA,” including the lyric where his name is dropped and he seemed to enjoy it.
“I think Nick [Saban] likes it,” Hayes wrote of the moment the football coach heard the song. “He cracked a smile,” Hayes said, adding, 🤯🤯🤯🤯 and 💪 emojis.
Hayes made time for Saban before his concert with Kane Brown in Birmingham.
But it wasn’t just Hayes and his wife who got to meet the football coach. Hayes’ six children also met the football coach and got a photo with Saban, who stood in the center sporting a blue suit coat and gray dress pants.
And the fun didn’t end there.
Hayes and his family made time to play some football before the show, with the country singer tossing the pigskin around on the field with his boys. In addition, Hayes stopped by a signing that Saban was doing and took a picture with a fan.
The fan, named Paul Coston, shared a photo of he and Hayes to Instagram, writing the following: “When your [sic] doing a signing with Nick Saban & @walkerhayes Walker Hayes walks in. I told Saban I was more excited to meet you today than [sic] him 😂. I hope your boy enjoys the Jersey lol. Thanks again.”
Hayes performed “AA” a day later during his direct support slot on Kane Brown’s Blessed & Free Tour date in Alabama at Legacy Arena and the crowd in attendance roared the lyrics back to him extra loud, especially noted when he got to the lyric where he name checks Saban.
Hayes recently debuted the music video for “AA” on May 10, saying it was a “blast to film.”
Directed by Hayes and Robert Chavers, the clip opens with Hayes sitting in an AA meeting detailing his struggles with alcoholism through the lyrics of the song. The singer/songwriter is then seen driving a tractor through Downtown Nashville, compliments of The Nashville Tractor, which he learned to drive just hours before getting behind the wheel.
As the clip continues, the viral hitmaker takes to the Nashville Palace to do some line dancing to the infectious tune after dancing to the track with friends on the tractor earlier in the day.
The video ends as Hayes gets into an DeLorean and drives away, potentially teasing that “DeLorean” could be his next single.
Watch the “AA” music video below.
“AA” was written by Hayes alongside lauded songwriters Shane McAnally and Luke Laird and produced by “Fancy Like” collaborator Joe Thibodeau and McAnally.
“It was funny: three recovering, alcoholics, writing the truth,” Hayes shared of the song with Everything Nash. “Just saying, ‘I’m just trying to do these things in life that I fail at all the time. But I’m trying, and that’s what I’m up to.’ That’s how that song came about. I walked in the room and ‘Fancy Like‘ was just on a rocket. Luke just laughingly said, ‘Man, how are you? What are you doing? How is it going?’ And I said, ‘Man, I’m just trying to stay out of AA.’ He said, ‘Let’s go. You write that down.’ And that was the conception of ‘AA.’”
The song follows his chart-topping, GRAMMY-nominated hit, “Fancy Like,” both of which appear on Hayes’ latest project, Country Stuff The Album.
Hayes recently wrapped up his Fancy Like Tour and is currently serving as support alongside RaeLynn on Brown’s Blessed & Free Tour. The viral hitmaker will soon embark on his first-ever arena tour this fall, dubbed the Glad You’re Here Tour, aptly named after his book of the same name that he co-wrote with his longtime friend Craig Allen Cooper.
The 15-city trek, which features support from Parmalee, will kick off in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on September 29 and continue through November 12, where the tour will wrap up in Everett, Washington at Angel Of the Winds Arena.
