Walker Hayes Has Picked Up Exercise to Replace Alcohol
Country music's biggest party isn't very much fun if you're battling an addiction to alcohol. Las Vegas — the site of the 2018 ACM Awards — is known as a town of excess. The drinking, the gambling and the you-name-it is easy to grab in handfuls, but most people can put it down when they leave.
Walker Hayes has had moments where he's not sure he can. The "Craig" singer is honest about his struggle with alcohol on his Boom album, and even more revealing in conversation — he says that talking about addiction is good therapy. So, we asked him how he approaches events like the ACMs and going to Las Vegas.
“I have a lot of replacements that I’ve found for alcohol," Hayes admits, listing reading and songwriting as two go-tos. "I'm in the gym constantly. I may not be doing it right, but I love to get on an elliptical and put the kids on FaceTime in front of me and just get after it. They don’t even have to talk to me. They just put the phone on and put it in the living room and one will walk by and be like, ‘Hey!’”
Hayes told Taste of Country previously that really it's the quiet hours that drive temptation, not the grand social events. The father of six (with one more on the way, expected this June) will bring his wife Laney with him to Vegas for the weekend. Find him at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino, sitting outside.
"We’re just gonna get some coffee and sit by the fountain," he says. "I’m obsessed by that. It’s kind of weird — I could sit by that for hours and just chat and hang and people watch. I love to people watch."
Of course, the "You Broke Up With Me" singer isn't the first person with alcohol or substance abuse issues to visit Las Vegas during the ACM Awards. Keith Urban, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols and Brantley Gilbert are a few more who've been open (to various degrees) about their struggles. Hayes' plan may be tried and tested. Now two-and-a-half years sober, he did the ACM Awards in 2017, as well.
"Craig" is the singer's second radio single from Boom.
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