Sam Hunt is no stranger to challenging the traditionalist's ideas about what counts (and doesn't count) as a country song, and his genre-bending flair is on full display in his newest cover performance.

Hunt recently decided to put his unconventional spin on Garth Brooks' "What She's Doing Now," and the "Body Like a Back Road" hitmaker's version is nearly unrecognizable. His discography in general is famously experimental, but the atmospheric production and computer-generated beats he lays onto his rendition of "What She's Doing Now" is pretty out there, even for Hunt.

It's enough to make you wonder if he's intentionally meshing traditional country bones with the most avant garde aesthetics he can find, as a statement on the nature of traditionalism and the future of the genre.

On the other hand, maybe Hunt just likes putting his own spins on the classics. After all, he recently sampled honky-tonk star Webb Pierce's "There Stands the Glass," which was a chart-tipping hit in 1953, but is a pretty deep cut over half a century later. Still, Hunt incorporated it into his distinctly genre-blending single "Hard to Forget," which became his seventh No. 1 hit in July of 2020.

He celebrated that release last month, showing off an "early morning Tennessee [Striper]" that he caught to mark the occasion. "Hard to Forget" is the second No. 1 single to come off of Hunt's latest album, Southside. It follows the hit leading single, "Kinfolks."

Brooks' original version of "What She's Doing Now" spent some time at the top of the charts, too. After its release as part of the singer's 1991 record, Ropin' the Wind, Brooks kept his single at the top of Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for an impressive four weeks.

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