Sam Hunt just dropped the video for “Young Once,” a track from his latest Southside album, and it is powerful. The video, which Sam makes a cameo in, follows the story of two homeless teens, trying to find a better life for themselves than the ones they left behind.

Sam co-wrote “Young Once” with Zach Crowell, Matt Jenkins and Josh Osborne, and was Sam’s reflection on his own South Carolina childhood.

“’Young Once,’ so that’s a song that reflects on youth in a nostalgic way,” Sam shared with his record label. “I’m a little older than I was when I made my first record and reflecting on your younger days is a theme in country music that you see all the time. So, it’s like how do you do that in an original way? How do you write that song in an original way?

“And for some reason, God has just put ideas in front of me that sometimes when these ideas come into a room, whether I come up with it or a cowriter, it’s like ‘How’s this not been written yet?’” he continued. “And this is one of those ideas that I thought how has nobody flipped this hook and written this song this way before?”

Southside is Hunt’s sophomore album, released six years after his successful Montevallo record, released in 2014.

“The album title came well after all the songs were finished,” Sam previously shared with UMG. “I essentially sat down and made a list of potential titles and just off the top of my head, I just sort of started writing down words or phrases that felt like the songs or felt like the record. Southside was the one that just kept standing out. I didn’t put a whole lot of thought into why that was the case. Southside just for me is a phrase that just feels like my rural and urban roots, where I’m from.”

Sam is spending his time during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic at his new cabin with his wife, Hannah. He will kick off his Southside Summer Tour on July 10. Find tour dates, and purchase Southside, by visiting his website.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of MCA Nashville / Connor Dwyer