Sam Hunt had had the idea for the song stored away for some time. "I try to think of titles or lines that'll cross my mind and I'll put 'em in my phone, and this was one that I wanted to write for a while – the title 'Body Like a Back Road' – or use it as a lyric, do something with it," the Georgia native recalled. "I didn't have a melody, but one night this melody got stuck in my head and the phrase 'Body Like a Back Road' sang perfectly to it and the chorus came out pretty quick." Having come up a melody that fitted the title, Hunt started working on the song with producer Zach Crowell and a couple of writing buddies Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally in November of 2016. The quartet penned the bulk of the tune during a trip to Charleston, where they were hoping to work without the distractions of being in Nashville. Hunt recalled "I wanted to write it because I thought it was a fun song, but I didn't know for sure if I wanted to put it out. I didn't want it to come across as objectifying women or be too, to lack depth and just, I don't know. So, anyway, I had some concerns, but I tried to make it fun to offset any risks of those things happening, which made writing it fun, and I think that came across in the lyric and in the way we recorded it and everything else. When we finally finished it, it finally hit me as 'Ok. Wait a minute. Maybe I underestimated the potential of this song. I think this could be a fun song and it will connect with folks.' So, at that point, I was excited to put it out and fortunately folks have enjoyed it."