Dustin Lynch Shares a Hawk Sunday Night

98.1 The Hawk has another first Sunday night at 7.  Dustin Lynch will co-host 'Country Countdown USA' Sunday night and you can catch it on 98.1 The Hawk or on your phone or tablet with the FREE Hawk app Radio Pup.

Dustin has spent the entire year on the road with Luke Bryan, including his stadium shows.  Dustin told host Lon Helton it's been an incredible year:  "Luke's like a big brother to me, he's so sweet to take me under his wing, show me the ropes, and show me how it's done the right way.

One show Dustin won't forget took place on May 14:  "I turned 30 on tour with Luke.  I had a feeling something was gonna go down that night.  Here I am on stage, and Luke goes into Happy Birthday.  Here I am in front of 14,000 people singing me happy birthday.  What a great night, after the show, they surprised me with cake and presents, and then he took me fishing the next day.  So it was a pretty cool birthday, it's gonna be tough to beat."

It turns out that Dustin is a surfer.  Hard to believe, considering he was raised in Tennessee, where there's no ocean.  He explained: "Both of my parents were raised on Anastasia Island in Northeast Florida, so surfing was one of those things that just happened.  When we did family vacations, my dad taught me, it's fun, it's a great workout, and now it's a great cleanse, it's a great reset button."

Dustin is currently in the Top 5 with "Hell of a Night."  But that song was originally intended for another artist.  Dustin shares: "A couple of songwriters came out to see my show, and afterwards, they played me 'Hell of a Night,' and I immediately loved it, it was exactly what I wanted.  They gave me the dreaded words, 'Jason Aldean likes it.'  He ended up not putting it on his album, so I grabbed it, and recorded it, and it's taken the energy for my live show to a new level."

Dustin also has great stories this week about Dierks Bentley, Dan & Shay, Brett Eldredge, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, and Florida Georgia Line.