How did a rising Nashville star go from ‘Invisible’ to transformative? Honesty.

Between 2011 and the start of 2016, Hunter Hayes was moving faster than the speed of country music.

Still in his early 20s, he was a radio staple with a series of pop-savvy country hits (“I Want Crazy,” “Invisible” and the multiplatinum selling “Wanted”) while onstage his earnest exuberance as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist made him one of the freshest voices out of Nashville, even though he hailed originally from Louisiana. Enduring stardom seemed the inevitable next career step.

Then the singer and songsmith effectively put on the brakes, largely withdrew from the spotlight and began a period of extensive personal and professional reassessment. Hayes, who performs Friday at Manchester Music Hall, views the period – which was more of an intense, out-of-pocket work session more than a hiatus – as a “transformation.”

“I’m the only one who kept myself from growing for a long time, so the difficult part was opening myself up and telling myself it was okay to do such. So honestly, when you look at this as a life experience, it was beautiful. It was a beautiful lesson and I learned it in such a way where I ended up with music at the end of it. I get to tell the story of the process and the transformation I felt that happened,” Hayes said.

“I just kind of buried myself in working. I got lost in the creative process in the best way. I took a couple years for writing. But last year, I just went through this really cool phase of just altogether forgetting about everything I had done prior to that point. I started again from a place of, ‘Okay, if I was going to start right now, what would I say? Who would I be talking to? What would I be talking about?’ It went from ‘What do I need to make?’ to ‘What do I want to make?’ And that was a big transition. That’s how you explain your life. That’s how people get to know you. That’s where connections happen.”

The first musical fruits to come from the renewed perspective that Hayes placed on his career were the 2018 tracks “One Shot” and “Dear God.” Then last winter came the single “Heartbreak,” a curiously optimistic observation of country music’s most time-honored thematic emotion. The song was a collaboration between Hayes and veteran Canadian singer, songwriter and producer Gordie Sampson.

“I set down in this journal two pages of lyrics that, honestly, didn’t make any sense. But they weren’t supposed to. Everything was free form. It was me speaking about something I was really passionate about. There are multiple things that ‘Heartbreak’ carries for me personally. It was taking them in to Gordy, having him understand them and then bringing them to life that made it all make sense. I never had that many chaotic lyrics walking into a co-write. To see it come to life so I can feel how I wanted it to feel about it… I mean, I’m incredibly proud of it.”

A new album of music chronicling Hayes’ transformative journey is planned for later this year. But for now, the singer is proud to showcase both the country sounds that made him a celebrity as his teen years came to a close along with the newer adult reflections that suggest where he and his career are headed.

“I’m proud of my debut record,” Hayes said. “I’m proud of everything that I’ve worked on. Everything has had heart and soul in it. There is no question. But I feel like those are the works, almost, of another person. Not that I wasn’t myself then, but I do feel like I’m more myself now than I’ve ever been. I feel like the new music reflects that. For that reason alone I’m happy that stuff like ‘Dear God’ and ‘One Shot’ are totally transparent, almost uncomfortably so, and connecting with the people that I made music for and shared it with for years.

“These fans are embracing this new music. It was a scary thing to write to that degree of, I guess, honesty, and put it out to the world. But the response has been awesome. It’s been encouraging enough to tell me what I’m doing now is exactly what I need to do.”

If you go: Hunter Hayes/Levi Hummon

When: 7 p.m. May 31

Where: Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester St.

Tickets: $35-$80

Call: 859-537-7321

Online: manchestermusichall.com, hunterhayes.com

This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 9:04 AM.