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Walker Hayes teams up with fellow singer-songwriter Kane Brown on a tribute to fathers and sons.
Hayes released the collaboration on his new studio record, 17 Problems, on Friday (August 22). “Song For My Son” is one of three collaborations on the album, along with “Mayonnaise” featuring Nic D, and “Adderall” featuring Colbie Caillat. Hayes said it’s “crazy to have a song out with [Kane Brown] that’s a prayer. One for all to hear.”
He wrote the ballad with Billy Dawson and Ben Williams. Hayes said he and the two songwriters “weren’t performing, we were just talking to God,” when they wrote “Song For My Son.” “I don’t really love praying out loud. It’s tough for me to just focus on my conversation with the Lord, and not think how people listening could potentially be ‘grading’ my performance. And I’m probably, in a weird way, grading myself. I know it’s not a performance and I should only fear the Lord himself but I’m just being honest here… That really is the heart of this whole album.”
“Jesus, please just come on back, I need ya/ I’m desperate, messed up, tryin' to do my best but/ I’m scared all I'm passin' my son down is my bad stuff/ Father, help me, how am I supposed to do this dad stuff?/ I hate church but I love You/ And I'm prayin' he does too/ Looks up to me but I hope he sees me lookin' up to/ Jesus, Jesus”
Hayes and his wife, Laney Hayes, are parents to daughters Lela, Loxley and Everly, and sons Chapel, Baylor and Beckett, plus late daughter Oakleigh, who died shortly after she was born in 2018. Brown and wife Katelyn Brown are parents to daughters Kingsley Rose and Kodi Jane, and son Krewe Allen.
Find Hayes’ full 17 Problems album on iHeartRadio here, and listen to his collaboration with Brown here: