During a new appearance on the Playlisted Podcast with Austin Burke, former Vice President of Big Loud Records Clay Hunnicutt has shared the two key qualities that made Morgan Wallen stand out to him as he was starting his career at the label.

Hunnicutt served as VP of Big Loud while they were auditioning Wallen before signing him in 2016, with Hunnicutt helping to launch the Sneedville native's career in subsequent years. Since then, Hunnicutt went on to be EVP of Label Operations of Big Machine Label Group, before leaving in 2025 to start his own firm, Honey Music.

During his conversation on Playlisted, Hunnicutt says two things stood out to him about Wallen from Day One - his voice, and his often-overlooked songwriting talent.

He muses, “The vocal, the voice. I mean, his voice is just so unique. And also I would say, he's such an unbelievable songwriter...It's just, you know, this is not one of those situations where he was in a room and got put on a write. He went into some of the biggest and heaviest writes with Craig Wiseman and so many other people, and they all came out of those writes just going, ‘Oh my gosh, this kid can...hold his own’”.

Hunnicutt expands, “And then the word of mouth started around Music Row. He's an incredible songwriter, and then throw in that voice to it, is just another thing. Those were the two things I was most impressed with Morgan in the early days”.

He goes on to don Wallen “a writer's writer”, adding, “I mean, he really is. I mean, Rodney Clawson and so many others who are very jaded, and are not impressed very much, are like, ‘Man, I'll write with this kid any time’...That's a different level”.

Although Wallen has won countless awards for his songwriting and has writing credits for a host of other artists’ hits, such as Jason Aldean's ‘You Make It Easy’, some modern country commentators label him as more of a vocalist who relies on other writers.

As Hunnicutt stresses, Wallen's storytelling and his ear for a killer melody has always been one of his key selling-points, alongside his unmistakable vocals. With a new album on the horizon, we can't wait to hear both Wallen's charismatic drawl and his songwriting prowess showcased across another collection of songs.