Dwight Yoakam and Sam Hunt Sing Each Other’s Praises
One of the unique duets fans will see during the Academy of Country Music’s ‘Superstar Duets’ special tonight is the pairing of hot country newcomer Sam Hunt with the legendary Dwight Yoakam.
The duo performed Yoakam’s hit “Fast As You” for the show, and Yoakam has nothing but rave reviews of the Georgia native.
“Sam’s an interesting new artist in that he’s had just a stratospheric year, and his path to the success has kind of been uniquely his own,” Yoakam told ET of his duet partner.
Yoakam also went as far as to compare Hunt to another musical trailblazer.
“It reminds me a little bit of, with the infusion of soul and southern R&B, with the things that happened surrounding the album that Ray Charles put out — the very historic album ‘The Modern Sounds of Country Music’ back in the early ’60s,” Yoakam said. “It was a reinterpretation that not only intrigued country audiences at the time, but it brought a brand new audience to the country music world.”
For Hunt, getting to sing with one of his idols was priceless. “I didn’t know that I wanted to pursue music until I was 18 or 19 years old, so when I grew up watching and listening to Dwight it wasn’t that he was inspiring or influencing me as an artist. I was just a huge fan,” he shared with People.com. “But when I finally picked up a guitar and learned to play, ‘Guitars, Cadillacs’ is one of the first songs I learned.”
‘ACM Presents: Superstar Duets’ airs tonight on CBS as 9 p.m. EST. 
