Walker Hayes got emotional singing a duet of an unreleased new song with his daughter. Hayes sang a duet of his song, “Bigger Than Me” with his eight-year-old daughter, Loxley.
The song, which details faith, loss, and family, references the deaths of Hayes’ childhood dog as well as a friend who joined the military. In addition, the song mentions the birth of his oldest daughter and includes a break-down section featuring the song, “Jesus Loves Me.”
The viral hitmaker shared the clip to social media on Memorial Day.
“Thought this was an appropriate Memorial Day song. 🇺🇸,” Hayes wrote. “Botched the third verse cuz I got a little emotional listening to Lolly crush this. Wait for her solo at the end. Written with @daveyhackett @joshcjenkins and @petercgood #biggerthanme”
“Well me and my best buddy Brian played ball from Big League to the red man / The Majors never called so I went to work for dad and he went to work for Uncle Sam / Never heard how much freedom cost ’til them 21 guns went off / Folded up flag in my arms where Brian was supposed to be / Something ’bout hugging something bigger than me,” Hayes sang on one verse of the song.
When it came to the break-down section featuring “Jesus Loves Me,” Hayes looked at his daughter and said, “this part right here, get it,” while playing guitar and beaming with pride as she sang by herself.
“Something ’bout hugging something bigger than me,” Hayes concluded the song after his daughter finished her solo.
“Woo, let’s go!” Hayes said excitedly, fist-bumping Loxley. “You killed it!,” he added as the pair high-fived.
Hayes previously wrote the song, “I Hope You Miss Me” for his daughter, Loxley.
“To me, the sounds of [‘I Hope You Miss Me’] and the lyrics emotionally embody something my daughter Loxley told me one time when she was four years old,” Hayes explained to Sounds Like Nashville. “‘Daddy you can hold me, but you can’t hold me forever–that’s what ‘I Hope You Miss Me’ feels like,” he added.
Hayes shares six surviving children–Lela, Chapel, Baylor, Beckett, Loxley, and Everly–with his wife, Laney. The couple’s youngest daughter, Oakleigh died in childbirth back in 2018.
Hayes posted a clip of he and Loxley singing the second verse of “Bigger Than Me” in honor of Memorial Day, sharing he’d written the song with Davey Hackett, Josh Jenkins, and Peter Good.
“I botched the third verse cuz I got a little emotional listening to Lolly crush this,” Hayes wrote on Instagram.
Hayes previously posted a video of Loxley singing a Mackenzie Porter song while on the Fancy Like Tour, where Porter served as support.
