Walker Hayes' 7 Kids: All About His Sons and Daughters

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Walker Hayes Instagram

Walker Hayesmay love a Bourbon Street steak with an Oreo shake, but his love knows no bounds for his wifeLaneyand their seven children: Lela, Chapel, Baylor, Beckett, Loxley, Everly and Oakleigh.

In 2018, the pair’s seventh child, Oakleigh, died at birth as a result of a uterine rupture. The “Don’t Let Her” singer shared that his family grieved and honored Oakleigh in their own way. While the country music star is known for his autobiographical songwriting, his song for Oakleigh will “come one day, but only when it’s supposed to.”

“I will definitely sit down when the right stuff falls out that I think comes even close to doing my daughter justice, and it’s beautiful enough to share with the world about her and about this experience,” he told PEOPLE.

Walker Hayes Instagram

Shortly after, Walker found out he would be headlining his own tour — with Laney and their six kids in tow. Walker was fully aware of the public perception of his family of eight living on a tour bus, but to him, it was a dream come true. “We’re a unit,” he said to PEOPLE. “We lean on each other. We’re gonna be together as much as we can.”

Since then, Walker and his kids have become known for the creative “trick shot” videos they share on his Instagram. Each day, heshares a videoof one or more of his kids nailing their trick shot using different items like water bottles, pancakes, or pencils, and in the background, everyone can usually be heard cheering when they land it successfully.

Here’s everything to know about Walker Hayes’ seven children.

Lela Hayes, 19

Walker’s oldest child, daughter Lela, was born on Dec. 22, 2005.

“We just threw it together. It was my job to keep it easy enough for the old folks. And it didn’t take us long. I mean, we probably put it together in 30 minutes. We did two takes and just threw it up,” Walker told PEOPLE of how the viral TikTok dance challenge came to be. The father-daughter duo have alsochoreographed dances to Walker’s “Y’all Life,““Country Stuff” and “U Gurl,” as well asEd Sheeran’s “Shivers"andFloRida’s “High Heels.”

While Lela isn’t on social media herself, her parents often document her big moments — includinggetting asked out to prom— on Walker’s Instagram. “My socials are not label-run and they’re rarely curated,” Walker told PEOPLE.

At 16 years old, Lela joined her father and family on tour. While Walker admitted to PEOPLE that he was worried about how Lela would react to being away from her friends and the high school experiences she was inevitably missing out on, the teenager was happy to be with her family.

“Lela’s like, ‘I can’t believe this is our life, I can’t believe we get to do this,’ " he said. “And I agree. I’m like, I can’t believe it, either.”

Chapel Hayes, 17

Walker and Laney welcomed their second child, son Chapel, on Aug. 17, 2007. While Chapel doesn’t often appear of his father’s social media, he does, however, have a song named after him on Walker’s 2018 album,8 Tracks, Vol: 3 Black Sheep.

Of the Hayes bunch, Chapel is one of the “shy ones,” Walker previously told PEOPLE. The country artist said he was happily surprised when Chapel, alongside younger brother Beckett, joined the family onstage for a dance performance on his “Fancy Like” tour.

“Laney and I get teary-eyed talking about it,” Walker said. “I mean, both of them went onstage and did the dance, which is uncharacteristic of them. It was a cool moment to see your shy ones just having fun in front of all these people and cutting loose.”

“I love each and every one of these kids,” he told PEOPLE in 2017. “They’re all so beautiful and incredible, and watching them grow is the best thing I get to do on earth.”

Baylor Hayes, 15

Like his big sister, Baylor has enjoyed having a hands-on role in his dad’s music career. He was born on July 7, 2009, and is an assistant to Walker’s merch team. Baylor worked the merch booth on his dad’s “Fancy Like” tour, where he chatted with fans before the shows — an experience he claimed beat “being at home.”

“I got emotional just talking to him at the end of the night. He was so excited. He was learning how to serve people and how to work with people. He just absolutely loved it,” Walker recalled. “He told me, ‘Dad, this is way better than being at home.'” At home, Walker often refers to Baylor as “Bay Bay.”

In another interview with PEOPLE, Walker shared that his greatest joy is writing music about the memories he’s made with his family. “If I wake up and I’ve got six kids that are alive, and they walk down the stairs, and my wife is alive, and she comes down the stairs, and we’re together, and we’ve got a roof over our heads, and I’m writing a song — man, that’s about as good as life gets right there,” he said.

Beckett Hayes, 13

“It was an unintentional natural delivery,” she said, adding she nearly gave birth to Beckett in the car on their way to the hospital. “We had the other kids with us because there was no other choice. It was kind of like, ‘Everyone get in the car! We gotta go!’ "

“We just left [the children] at the front desk,” Walker added. The couple said a nurse was nice enough to color with Lela, Chapel and Baylor in the waiting room. Becket arrived within minutes, Lela continued, “It was coming-down-the-hall-of-the-hospital quick.”

He was also the muse behind the song “Beckett” off Walker’s 2017 record,boom. The proud dad sings about his then-4-year-old son’s favorite things, from munching on “fat Froot Loops” to taking “advantage of the bathtub acoustics.”

Loxley Hayes, 11

Loxley, or “Lolly” as her family calls her, was born on Aug. 7, 2013, and is already following in her father’s musical footsteps.

Their father-daughter relationship is rooted in music. In 2019, Walker released a song titled “I Hope You Miss Me” in honor of Loxley and her musical aspirations. “To me the sounds of this song and the lyrics emotionally embody something my daughter, Loxley, told me one time when she was 4 years old — ‘Daddy you can hold me, but you can’t hold me forever — that’s what I hope ‘I Hope You Miss Me’ feels like,” Walker toldSounds Like Nashville.

Loxley also likes to occasionallysteal the mic from her dadduring concert warm-ups.

Everly Hayes, 8

Walker and Laney welcomed their sixth child together, daughter Everly, on Aug. 27, 2015.

During her dad’s “Fancy Like” tour, Everly wasted no time getting to know each concert venue like the back of her hand. Walker told PEOPLE it was exciting for him and Laney to see Everly “have a little freedom” after living in such cramped corners on the road.

“They love it — discovering where the bathroom is, where the green room is. And ‘Here’s the food, Dad, and I’m gonna get some food.’ The little ones are so cute, like little ones are,” Walker said.

Oakleigh Klover Hayes

In June 2018, Walker announced that their seventh child, a daughter named Oakleigh Klover, died days before her due date at the hospital. Two months later, in August, the couple shared with PEOPLE that Oakleigh’s death wasthe result of a uterine rupture.

“‘What do I do?’ " Hayes recalled to PEOPLE of that tragic day. “‘When Laney wakes up, how do I tell her? How am I the one to explain, it’s a girl, but you know, she died?’ I knew that was just going to crush Laney.”

Before he had time to process the death of his newborn, the nurse relayed that Laney’s life was also in critical condition. “I really just hoped that this wasn’t going to be the worst day of my life, even though it kind of already was,” he said.

In honor of Oakleigh, Walker got his late daughter’s first and middle names, as well as her footprint tattooed on his left inner forearm. “He’d always wanted to do a tattoo, but there was nothing that ever felt important enough,” Laney explained. “This was the first time there was really something that was important enough.”

source: people.com