Interview: Spencer Hatcher talks new ‘Honky Tonk Hideaway’ EP and moving to Nashville

Spencer Hatcher is quickly emerging as one of country music’s most compelling new traditionalists, proudly flying the flag for twang-heavy, no-frills honky-tonk in an era often dominated by crossover trends. Rooted in classic influences like George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Mark Chesnutt, Hatcher’s sound leans into steel guitar, shuffle rhythms, and stories that feel lived-in rather than manufactured. His delivery carries an easy authenticity, balancing grit and charm with a deep respect for the genre’s past, while still sounding fresh and vital for a new generation of listeners hungry for real country music.

His latest EP, ‘Honky Tonk Hideaway,' cements that identity, offering a collection of songs that celebrate barroom escapism, late-night reflections, and the emotional push-and-pull of small-town life. Every track feels like a doorway into a neon-lit refuge where heartache, humour and hard-earned wisdom collide. With a growing fanbase and a clear artistic vision, Hatcher stands poised as an artist who isn’t chasing trends, but instead building a career on timeless country storytelling — one honky-tonk anthem at a time. We caught up with him to talk all about it.

Welcome Spencer, it's great to talk to you – thank you for your time today.

I really appreciate you talking to me and the support.

‘Honky Tonk Hideaway' is such a great EP. What story or vision were you hoping to share with your fans and listeners with this project?

I wanted to produce real, pure Country music. That's who I am. Real, raw, pure Country where what you hear on the EP is replicated directly by us up on the stage. I don't ever want to be an artist where you hear the record and then when you come to a live show it doesn't sound like how it does on Spotify – some artists really struggle replicating on stage what they were able to do in the studio.

‘When She Calls Me Cowboy' is your debut radio song. You've been out on radio tour with it – is that as gruelling as people say it is?

I would say, to an extent, it could be. It's certainly time consuming! Your attitude going into it will determine how you view it and how much fun you have with it. I just ate it up – I love travelling, I love meeting people so for me, it was great. Do you get a lot of sleep? No. Is it a really strict schedule? Yes. It can be gruelling for sure but when you prayed for it to happen for such a long time you have to just enjoy it.

What was the thinking behind ‘….Cowboy' being the first single ahead of all the others?

It's a special song that I truly do believe a lot of people can relate to in their own way. She might not call you cowboy but there might be another word or term. There's an intimacy aspect that people can relate to. It's not a negative song and we wanted to make it the mood-setter for everything that we are doing going forward. People are singing every word to it at the live shows too.

I really love ‘On the Inside' – that's such a great song……

Thank you – I've got an attachment to all of the songs because I've worked so hard on all of them. I love that one, I love ‘Has Anybody Ever' too, one of the first songs I ever released. ‘Cold Beer and Common Sense' might be one of my all time favourites too! And then, of course, you've got ‘Honky Tonk Hideaway' which is just such a barn-burner to play live!

‘Cold Beer and Common Sense' is a timely rallying cry for the United States right now. When did you first get the idea for that song?

It was a pitch to us when I had first gotten to town. I hadn't had time to do a great deal of writing yet and we wanted to get into the studio. I will say, it didn't sound anything like it does now! (laughing) It was hardly even a Country song but when we got our hands on it………..you can hear what we did.

It was right around election time when I first heard it and we were like, ‘well, this is very timely.' With all the negativity going on all over the world……. not just in the US at all. Everywhere – you turn on the news and it's just bad news, wars and bombings everywhere. This song felt right – it's just a song about kindness regardless of your political beliefs, everybody should still get along despite what they do and don't believe in.

There's a lovely spread of moods and vibes across the EP. It's a really good shop-window for you. Is that why you went with those choices out of all the songs I guess you recorded?

Yeah – we all discussed how we wanted the listener to go on a journey listening to this EP. If every single song was a fast beer drinking song it wouldn't hit the same as if you just have one or two of those. We've got one of those, we've got ‘The Way She Lies' which is a heartbreak song, we've got a love song with “When She Calls Me Cowboy.' We wanted a range of emotions and tempos across the EP – that was the thinking behind it.

When you play live do you prefer to play ballads or rip-roaring rockers?

Live, I love to play the faster pace songs. I've had a lot of time in the last four years as an independent artist to learn how to create set lists. I got really good at doing it and setting the mood for a great live show. Maybe starting with a fast song, moving to something slightly less paced and then into a slow song – it's the journey again. I like a little bit of everything – even when I was just a covers artist, I'd love to play ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today' and ‘Don't Close Your Eyes' because the ballads are a crucial point in every show but you also don't want to play too many so that the show is too slow.

You grew up in Virginia, immersed in music by the age of 5 and in a band with your dad and your brother. How did your upbringing shape your sound and your work ethic?

It shaped it tremendously. I owe everything to my younger years growing up on Bluegrass music and playing music in church. I moved into Country music probably 10, 11 years after I'd started in Bluegrass so I was in that scene for a long time. I'd been listening to Country music all my life. Growing up, between Bluegrass and old Country greatly influenced the music I am playing and creating today.

As somebody who has had feet in both the Bluegrass and the Country worlds – it's a cheeky question – but do Bluegrass musicians consider themselves superior to Country musicians?

I don't know if they would say that they are superior but you do, at times, see a little bit of rivalry and I don't think it comes as much from the Country side. The Country musicians I know admire the Bluegrassers but I can't say that the Bluegrassers always admire the Country folk, and that's from first hand experience. Playing in the scene and being an artist that you could say ‘transitioned' from being Bluegrass to Country I've watched some of my really close friends in Bluegrass basically unfollow me because I had made that switch – that was a surprise to me – because good music is just good music. It's probably on a person to person basis than a whole genre thing.

There are guys out there that can live in both worlds – someone like Zach Top, for example. My music is very similar and there are some Bluegrass influences and touches in it I just hope everybody can enjoy the music – we just want to create good songs and have some fun!

Do you think the success of Zach Top has opened a few doors and would hopefully smooth your pathway a little in terms of him making that really traditional sound commercially popular again?

Yes sir! I definitely hope it enables us to reach more folks than we might have thought of before. Five years ago, when I first started playing and touring live in Country music….. no-one was playing old or traditional sounding Country music. I was out there on the road and people were saying things like, ‘Well, he plays old people music!' (laughing) Then an artist like Zach Top made it mainstream again and shifted the industry to where it impacts on me and where I am heading.

Did a platform like TikTok help because there are spaces and corners where neo-traditional Country music is popular on there as well?

Definitely. I would say you could owe most of the success to social media because there is such a wide reach. When you get a couple of hundred thousand people on board it just spreads and spreads. People start off liking the person first and then dig into the music after – that's what we've seen.

Your brother, Connor, is still in your band today after you've been playing with him for all these years. Does he keep you accountable and help keep the bullshit levels down?

(laughing) I don't know, sometimes he might even add even to it! (laughing) We have a lot of fun out on the road. We're all from Virginia, I brought my whole crew with me to Nashville and keeping that team around me was important to me – I didn't want to get to Nashville and play with a group of strangers, I want to keep this team we have and then add to them over the years if it becomes applicable. We all hold each other accountable and keep the bullshit down, it's a good thing for all of us.

You moved to Nashville earlier in the year……..

I did, back in June of this year. I signed with the label back in July 2024 and I had so many shows that I had contracts already in place for that I had to keep flying down to Nashville and work all week and then fly back home for the weekend run because that was where my truck and trailer were! And that it was back to Nashville again after! So I finally made that move in June.

Did you suffer from imposter syndrome when you got to town? What was the biggest challenge you had to face?

Biggest challenge? Honestly, for me, it's not being able to play the volume of shows that I was playing back home. Last year I played over 150 shows and so I've gone from that to a lot less and I really miss that. I didn't have any surprises moving to Nashville because I had been flying down here for a good while beforehand, I knew exactly what I was walking into. We needed to buckle down and focus on the business side of things to lay the ground work for moving from being a regional artist to somebody ready to work on a national scale. I couldn't do a radio tour on my own, meet all the people who can help push our music to the next level and bring the kind of production values to our sound and our recordings – that's what moving to Nashville has helped us with. It's been so fun I just wish I could still play at least two shows a weekend because I love being up on the stage!

I'm sure we will speak again before this time next year but let's imagine we don't. What do hope 2026 will have done for your and your career if we were to sit down a year from today to talk and catch up again?

I hope that it will have given me a lot of attention on my music, that's all that I am looking for. I'd like to be well on my way towards my first hit. I'd like to think that ‘When She Calls Me Cowboy' is well on its way towards being a big radio song or, hopefully, it will have already been a hit song. It's getting a lot of radio play and streaming right now so who knows? That's what I'm really hoping for – to have laid the groundwork and be moving forwards towards success in 2027 and beyond.

Check out Spencer Hatcher's fabulous new EP ‘Honky Tonk Hideaway' in all the usual places right now.