Walker Hayes Almost Broke Sobriety the Day He Buried His Daughter
Country singer Walker Hayes shares how grief nearly led him to relapse and self destruct the day he buried his newborn daughter but a moment of clarity saved him and marked a turning point in his sobriety
Franklin Country music star Walker Hayes recently revealed the heartbreaking moment when grief nearly derailed his sobriety. During an interview on the K Love Morning Show on August 6 2025 Hayes who had been sober for over two years shared how he almost relapsed the day he buried his newborn daughter Oakleigh in 2018 .
Hayes described driving away from the cemetery with the intent to just… self destruct. He pulled up to a bar called 55 South in downtown Franklin looking through the window at three men inside determined to provoke a fight while getting drunk .
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A Forgotten Wallet—and a Moment of Clarity
In a stroke of fate Hayes realized his wallet wasnt in the car. He returned home to retrieve it only to spot his wife Laney alone and devastated in the darkness of their home on the day she buried their daughter. That haunting image stopped him in his tracks .
It makes zero sense he reflected recognizing how easily he could have destroyed what he and his family had built. He imagined the consequences being arrested starting rehab all over and dragging his family back to square one. It was in that moment he admitted I need a Savior. I need redemption from myself .
Turning Grief into Purpose
Hayes has long been open about the trials that shaped his sobriety. Losing Oakleigh in June 2018 during childbirth after his wife Laney suffered a uterine rupture tested him in the deepest way possible. Yet it was that grief which illuminated the man he wanted to become .
By 2024 he channeled those struggles into his music with the album Sober Thoughts writing songs that chart his journey toward freedom from addiction. Hayes has spoken candidly about the clarity sobriety brings feeling energetic and alive again and his desire to help others through his story .
A Message of Redemption
Hayes’s near relapse is not just a personal confession it’s a message of hope. He offers a raw glimpse into how grief can threaten recovery and yet how love especially for family can ground us in humanity and strength .
What could have been a tragic return to addiction instead became a moment of redemption. In the darkest hour he chose to return not just to sobriety but to empathy to healing and to redemption .