Sam Hunt / YouTube & Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
In the video, his wife, Hannah Lee Fowler, whom he married in 2017, co-stars alongside him.
The song serves as a heartfelt introspection on the remorse Hunt feels for his actions leading to his DUI arrest in 2019 while also expressing gratitude to his wife for her unwavering support throughout the ordeal.
Hunt co-wrote the song with Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne, Jerry Flowers, and Zach Crowell.
Check out the lyrics to the chorus below.
“The night I got locked up, everything went wrong /
The night I got messed up, should’ve just stayed home /
Pickеd up my phone, what can I say? /
Well, I thought that you’d walk away /
But you stood by your man, Tammy Wynettе /
It hit the fan, you could’ve just quit /
Nah, but you showed me love /
You didn’t go when the goin’ got tough, the night I got locked up.”
(Wynette is renowned for her rendition of the classic “Stand By Your Man” from 1968.)
Later in the song, he acknowledges his wife again, singing:
“When you picked up my pieces and my only call, I knew you were in, baby, in for the long haul.”
The “Locked Up” music video notably draws inspiration from another country legend, Johnny Cash.
Filmed at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, the video features Hunt channeling Cash’s style while Hannah joins him in ’60s-era attire.
It depicts Hunt clad in a suit with slicked-back hair, delivering a performance for inmates on a makeshift stage within a jail setting, reminiscent of Cash’s iconic recorded performances at California’s Folsom Prison in 1968. Hannah accompanies Hunt as they both enter and exit the lock-up together.
Hunt will perform “Locked Up” for the first time at the 2024 CMT Music Awards on April 7.
In November 2019, Hunt faced arrest in Nashville on charges of driving under the influence and possessing an open container. He was taken into custody at the Metro jail, registering a reported blood alcohol content level of 0.173, significantly exceeding the legal limit of 0.08.
Just one day after his arrest for DUI and having an open container in his vehicle, Hunt took to Facebook to release a brief statement.
“Wednesday night I decided to drive myself home after drinking at a friend’s show in downtown Nashville,” he wrote. “It was a poor and selfish decision and I apologize to everyone who was unknowingly put at risk and let down by it. It won’t happen again.”
RELATED: Sam Hunt Arrested For DUI And Open Container
In August 2021, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident. As part of his sentence, he served 48 hours at the DUI Education Centers, an alternative facility, completed an alcohol safety course, and had his license suspended for a year.
Additionally, Hunt and his wife encountered difficulties in their relationship; in February 2022, Hannah initiated divorce proceedings while pregnant with their first child.
However, in April of the same year, a judge approved her request to dismiss the case. Their daughter, Lucy Louise, was born in May. Subsequently, the couple welcomed their son, Lowry Lee, in October 2023.
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“[Fatherhood] has given me such a sense of purpose — at home and out on the road. A new appreciation for life in general. I think I leveled up overnight, evolved 10 or 20 years overnight,” Hunt shared on Audacy’s Katie & Company podcast in September 2022.
“They are doing their best every day,” a source told PEOPLE previously of the pair. “Sam and his wife are continually looking forward to the next chapter. He’s just thinking about his family and what’s to come.”
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See Hunt and his wife Hannah in the new music video for “Locked Up” below!
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