Walker Hayes Announces He’s Writing His First Book

Fancy Like singer,Walker Hayes has announced he is writing a new book called Glad You’re Here.

The title comes from a line in his 2018 single, Craig, which was inspired by long-time friend and collaborator, Craig Allen Cooper. Throughout his career, Hayes has heavily praised Cooper, a pastoral writer who once gave up the keys to his minivan to help Hayes and his family when they were struggling to make ends meet.

The book will explore the friendship between the two, digging deeper into their own backstory from the time they first met to when they became neighbours. In addition, Hayes will also talk spirituality, previous battle with alcoholism and the difficulties he and his wife, Laney, have faced in recent years, including losing their seventh child, Oakleigh Klover Hayes.

Hayes told Music Mayhem, “I bought the house next door to [Cooper]. [The book] uncovers the details of our friendship, my testimony, us losing a baby, so I go in detail about losing Oakley and how the Lord has redeemed that. I also talk about my battle with alcoholism and how it’s going. When I met Craig, I was an alcoholic, and now I will be six years sober in October.”

“So, man, [this book] documents our life together and what an impact [Cooper] and his family had on us and why, which is just because of Christ,” he added. “The funny thing is when I wrote the song, Craig, I did not say the name of Jesus because I would have denied him at that point in my life, I did not believe in Jesus. And while that saddens me, now he’s all I want to sing about. And that’s largely what the song is about, just through unlikely friends becoming neighbours.”

The upcoming release will be published through Moody Publishing, a non-profit organisation that publishes Christian books. The release date for Glad You’re Here is unknown at this time.

Hayes is also set to release his new album, Country Stuff the Album later this month. The follow up to his 2021 EP Country Stuff, will feature his viral hit Fancy Like, singles U Girl, AA and current bop Drinking Songs, as well as collaborations with Carly Pearce, Jake Owen, Lori McKenna and Christian rock band, MercyMe.

Hayes notes, “I’ve been waiting so long to put out a project like this. It has everything I love from the fun of Fancy Like to the more personal lyrics in AA. As an artist, it’s such a unique thing to be able to share all the different versions of you in a project, and that’s really what I tried to do here.”

Keep up to date with Walker Hayes on his Facebook page here.

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