Walker Hayes had a viral hit with “Fancy Like” in 2021, and now he is returning with a holiday version of his career-changing single. The father of six just released a new song, “Fancy Like Christmas,” out now. The feel-good track, which says in part, “Go Jesus, it’s your birthday / Bougie like blowups in the front yard / Hoping Santa gonna leave an Applebees’s gift card / In my stocking even though we gettin’ naughty all night hey / That’s how we do, how we do / Fancy like Christmas,” was as much fun for Hayes to write as any other song he has ever released.

“This is the most excited I’ve been about a song in a long time,” Hayes says. “From the moment this idea came about, it was off to the races. I’ve never re-written a song before and I think this was the most fun I’ve ever had writing any song.”

Hayes has a lot to celebrate besides the holidays this year. The 43-year-old just celebrated eight years of sobriety, a milestone he spoke out about on social media.

“Celebrating 8 years sober with y’all,” Hayes said last month. “I don’t actually know the exact day I just know it was around October. Thank y’all for the encouragement over the years and for allowing me to sing through my struggles. Here’s to another eight and here’s to freedom from addiction. Let’s gooooooooooo!”

Hayes, at one time, never imagined that he would overcome alcoholism, which has become one of his proudest accomplishments so far.

“I woke up one Saturday, and I just felt like I was going to die,” Hayes Fox News. “I felt like physically if I did one more day, something was wrong. And so I stopped, and then one day turned into two, and then two turned into a week. And then a week turned into a month. And then I did the whole high on sobriety thing and got into working out and stuff. Kind of traded a bad addiction for some good ones. But then the good ones, they become bad also, so I went through that process.”

In addition to “Fancy Like Christmas,” Hayes has another song out, his single, “Good With Me,” from his latest album, New Money.

“I was leaving the gym late one afternoon and a friend stopped me in the parking lot,” Hayes said of the story behind the song.  “I love this guy. Great guy. We shot the breeze for a sec but pretty quick I noticed my buddy getting angry as he gave me an ear full of his opinion on a popular controversial issue. Then, he became even angrier when he told me what he thought about those who disagreed. Honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about but I left the conversation tired and even more confused.

“I went home, parked at the house and went and sat on my dock,” he continued. “I feel stupid sometimes because I don’t know what to think. I don’t have time. I have six kids, a wife, three dogs, a job and if I can squeeze in a workout at the end of each day I feel like I’ve completed a lot!”

Find “Fancy Like Christmas,” “Good With Me,” and all of Hayes’ music and upcoming showsat WalkerHayes.com.

Read ’14 Country Music Singers Who Are Sober’ here.