Sam Hunt Channels His Best Johnny Cash For CMT Performance, But Sound System Fails Him
Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for CMT

Sam Hunt Channels His Best Johnny Cash For CMT Performance, But Sound System Fails Him

Sam Hunt brought the outlaw vibes to the CMT Awards. The singer dressed similar to the Man in Black himself — Johnny Cash. THe only issue was the sound system failed him.

The singer debuted his song "Locked Up" for fans. It should have been a crowning moment for Hunt, but fans took to social media to complain that something was off. While some wanted to blame Hunt's singing, it quickly became apparent that it was the sound system itself.

One wrote, "He really needs a different mic. Sounds too auto-tune ish. And he should have sang country house instead. Much better song."

Another commented, "I really think the sound system sucks, my sister is at the show and said he sounded amazing although what was on tv definitely wasn't the best." Yet another wrote, "Have any of the stars commented about the sound system . They are all excellent singers but they sounded out of tune or couldn't hear them . I kept asking my family what was going on."

One wrote, "Very difficult to hear lyrics and Sam sounded way off key." Another wrote, "Saw Sam in concert he was amazing. Don't judge him because of a bad sound system."

Sam Hunt Talks 'Locked Up'

In an interview with Country Now, Hunt opened up about his new album and song collection. He said he wanted to write something that he felt connected to.

"I've always felt the need to be a writer or write the songs that I put out because I've just felt like that's what the audience or folks who supported us expect and connect with to some degree, but I was at a cattle show about two years ago, and I met Randy Owen. One of the things he told me was out of the blue...he said, 'don't be afraid to cut outside songs' and I had to check myself to make sure that I wasn't letting my ego get too involved with feeling the need to be the writer on every song," Hunt explained. "So I stepped away from that and started to think about it and consider outside songs. That song came along and it felt like something that I would've written... all three of the writers are writers that I write with so it sounds like something that I could have written and I connected to it immediately."

He continued, "There may be a time down the road where I don't make a big deal about it, and just put all these songs together on one project just for posterity's sake. So down the road when I look back, this will be an actual album that you can find with a name and all the songs are together because they do all go together."