A Message from Bobby + ICYMI: #287 HARDY In-Studio: Writing No.1’s for Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen to Becoming An Artist

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Speaker 1: An episode with Hardy really the first time I've spent time with Hardy. I mean this is episode two seventy eight back in the day. We're putting it up again because his new albums out, which, by the way, the Jaco and episode from this week is awesome, and we don't do a lot of these in case you missed it, but I think the Hardy one is a good one to do in case, I mean literally you missed it, and he's back in the news, but you can learn a lot about Hardy and how he grew up, why I decided to do music this way. But that's it. Hard He's got a new record, The mocking Bird and the Crow, and they keep calling it genre bending. Get this point, what's a genre? Yeah? You know, but I like it. I like I like him, I like how he does his music. The Mockingbird and the Crow Tour launches in February with Jamison Rodgers and Blame my Youth as support. Get tickets at Hearty official dot com. So we get to that in like thirty seconds. Movie Mike's Movie podcast also exists, and it's awesome and Mike, what's up? What are you doing over there now? Last couple episodes. I'm breaking down the Oscar nomination, so everything that came out, I'll give you my predictions on who is gonna win. And if people are listening to this and it's past the Oscars, you can go and look and see how wrong yeah, Mike was. People like you're pretty good though. But even though you're gonna be wrong some you know that those are the kind of people that they just want to hear you'd be wrong. It's something. Yeah, you can do that too. And Amy's depending on when you hear this, because we're putting this up win one day of the week, So today Amy's tickets for her four Things podcast, Amy Brown go on cell today, Um, and you may hear it's they'll probably still be on cell up it's Monday or Tuesday, but if it's like three months from now, they probably won't be. UM. That's it. Thank you. Here as Hardy episode two seventy eight from Back in the Day in case you missed it, alright, with Hardy here in the studio. We never met before this, which is weird because you've been around for a bit now and I've been around for a bit, but we didn't even run into each other the few chance times that we were both out you know what, M yeah, yeah, yeah a C M S. I feel like to um. The last time I was at like an actual awards show, like a red carpet where people were you know, pre COVID had was like over a year ago obviously, so um yeah, I think I've only literally seen you like once ever, like in passing. But I mean except for kind of the would you say, that's a mullet not a mullet longer, it's it's it's a weird tweenter. Other than that, I would say something, we're similarshly looking. Yeah, I would think, so we got that. We're thinner than me, generic white. We're both generic white guys though that have dark rimmed glasses. You can still pull off the flat bill cap. Once I turned forward this last year, I was like, I'm out. I got hats anymore, not hats, but I can't do flat bills, and I feel like I'm a little too old to really rock the flat one. I think that for the most part, every body is too old. I think they're like just going away. For the most part, it's literally talking to somebody about that earlier. It's like people just no matter who you are, look less cool these days in a flat bill. I don't know why. Has it been a bit odd to finally get recognition as part of the artist and you really can't do anything with it? What do you mean? Well, because here you have number one song on the radio, you have a ton of songwriting hits, but nobody outside of our community knows who the songwriters are for the most party, right, that's that's a celebrated job, a well paying job if you hit big inside of our bubble. But you can't go to you know, Tupelo or Lexington and play a full show as a songwriter. No, you can't sell out you know rupp Arena. No, definitely not so your your success as an artist, and you can tell me if I'm wrong. It's mostly you're the peak of it has been. We can't do crap. Yeah that's true. Okay, I get what you're saying. Um, yeah, it's been tough, dude. Um And and I really felt like I have to think about Timeline. Our last few shows were uh, I guess around this time last year and we were finally, um you know, selling out like bigger, big guest rooms and stuff and I mean our set was like amazing and we were really dialed in and and everything went away. So um, but yeah, it's been it's been kind of tough on that end. But the songwriting school, I mean it's like I get to play covers quote unquote, and you said that I wrote, and so I kind of don't have to do real covers and and get to play some of the stuff that I've written, and I try to explain it live and I don't know if it translates, you know, if people really are listening. But um, yeah, that's cool. I wonder how many people, because again we're so into the industry in different ways, but I wonder how many people that go to a show that don't know the ends of it actually know what you're saying when you're talking, going, hey, I wrote God's Country from Blake Shelton, and then you play it and how many go, oh, yeah, he's governing this on this is a good one. Yeah, I probably a lot. I would think so too. I think we give ourselves too much credit that people listen to everything we say. Yeah, I think so, especially like in bars like arenas and stuff. I are probably different. I haven't gotten to do that in arenas obviously, but um, but like in bars and they're loud and everybody's drunk and and do you know that they're probably not paying attention. You're number one as an artist song, your first one is. And this is mostly what I was referring to, because I know you've you've built a base and you've opened up for other big artists. But for you to have a song that has extreme massive pill and people to go, oh, it's the guy that did one beer like that hasn't been able to happen quite yet. No, I mean because no, we haven't really played shows since it happened. Let me play this first. Here is one Beer on the record. This hits slightly different than the rest of the songs. So whenever this was decided to go to you know, radio, conventional radio, was someone really pushing that and it was like, Wow, we can't believe we're gonna do this or was that kind of the consensus to go with that song? Yeah, it was just the internet. It was data of it stood, I mean oddly enough to it was on Hicks tape. It wasn't even originally on my um My Rock, my actual record. It was a Higgs tape song and of all the songs, we knew we were probably gonna do a single from Higgs tape and uh Seth England kept saying like, dude, it's gonna be one beer you just watch and I was like, okay, and uh, sure enough, I mean exponentially beat everything else on the record. And and I've always been uh I say always, I've only been doing this a couple of years. But like anything that I cut, I would be willing to do to have as a single. So whatever that they, you know, say, is blowing up on you know whatever Internet, any app or whatever, I'm good to go with. So I just said, let's let's do it. I know it's different, but go for it. There's only ever been one of the persons to say that in that way to me when when doing these long form conversations, and he said, you know what, I almost all my stuff, not a lobways. I'll take a couple of songs that that I don't write because I'm a songwriter and I appreciate songwriters. And he said, but if I cut it, I just go it's good enough to put out, So you decide, because I wouldn't cut it if I didn't think it was good. And that other that was Chris Stapleton, who goes, I cut it. I gotta believe in it, So label you take it and do what you're good at, because I already did what I'm good at. That's how I feel pretty much exactly the same. I'm cool with anything. And I know there's kind of a whole spectrum of of sonically, of of stuff that I put out, But I'm cool with anything going out there. When you move to town, uh ten and a half years ago, that's when you moved here officially? Yes, when did you come to town the first time? Ago? I can't believe people get paid to do that. Um, about eleven years ago. Well, my sister, So, my sister moved here before I did. She's a year and a half older than me. To do music, yes, originally, and now she's you know, found her own path and she's doing something completely different. But um, and so I was in like late high school, like senior your high school slash junior college, and she was going to Belmont and she hit me up and she was I just started like writing songs and stuff, and she was like, hey, I don't know, like what you're trying to do with your life pretty much. But there's a thing called a publishing deal, and you there's a whole industry where you get paid to write songs if you ever wanted to do that. And I just kind of on a whim, was like sure, and just moved up here and and you know, that's kind of when everything started. So you moved up here from Mississippi. Where were you living because you're from Philadelphia, Mississippi. Yeah, I played from Arkansas and we played a lot of ball all around you know, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. Have you ever been there? Yeah, I've been through really yeah, I've been through almost all of Mississippi. Just when you don't have when you don't come from a place that has a lot, you go to other places that don't have a lot. Yeah sure, wow that makes sense. Yeah, so totally, you just move around and so yeah, I've been through there a couple of times. And so you were living there in high school? Is that when you movedut to high schoo I moved I went to one year of junior college and it was like a joke. I mean, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I was such a terrible student, and I ended up going to college here. But um, I just I knew I needed to leave too. So I was technically in UM. I would come home on the weekends, but Decatur, Mississippi, which is like twenty five minutes away from Philadelphia. UM. But yeah, technically I was in Philadelphia. I want I moved here, so you move up here to go to school. Yeah, I went to MPT s U UM and so I lived in Nashville for the summer, and then I went lived in Murphreysboro for like a year, and then I moved back and just commuted for the rest of the time. When you're at MT s U, who has a good music school? Yeah, it's like the poor man's Belmont. Yeah, that's why I said it's a good music school. You know, bell Mont's. It's like the end of music row. It's like the castle on top of the hill. Yeah, Like, you graduate, you could get a number one record, but you go and you study songwriting there. What in the world do you learn in school as a songwriter? You know, it was really interesting. Um and I hate saying this, but the class itself, you kind of either got it or you don't. And I don't know. It's the I learned more about publishing and like the music industry and kind of how not to get screwed in a contract and which that's what lawyers are for to But um, I learned more about that, I think than the actual craft of writing a song. But I did learn a lot about publishing and a lot of music industry terminology and like three sixty deals and stuff like that. I I really got. Um, I got a lot. I took a lot in from that based on that major. And also you meet people who then introduce you to people who then introduce you to people. Yeah, totally, And that's and that's what I always do at It's like I understand that if I didn't do that, I definitely wouldn't be here. And I and I kind of had a weird college experience and and only had a couple of friends, so I stayed in my room a lot and just like really learned how to write songs by myself. And if I didn't do that, you know, I wouldn't have kind of developed my portfolio for signing a publishing deal and all that. So it's definitely worth it. Did you finish school, Yeah, I have a degree, dude, I believe it or not, I definitely do. It's in. It's in uh commercial songwriting, which is insane. So you finished school, you're in Nashville full time? How long and I assumed you finish school twenty three a round that age? Yeah, how long until you're actually getting to pay the bills writing songs? Um? So I signed a publishing deal. Um I graduated August, so I had to do like a four and a half semesters and I did summer to finish and so September, October, November, December, January, six months six months after college. Um I signed my first publishing deal. What song or songs do you remember sending out? Because you kind of have this collection of material to go, Hey guys, please sign me. Yeah, do you remember did you have anything that is still floating around or end up getting cut in that first batch of No, I didn't even get a cut on my first publishing deal until I signed my second deal, and then I got one cut. They paid you for a whole deal and made no money off of you. Yeah. Um, I had one song about a dog that was really good that like got pitched around and that was like on my schedule A So it was one of the songs that I came into my deal with that's still uh I will hear maybe we'll go on hold or something, but no, nothing, nothing that I wrote before my pub deals has seen the light of day for the most part. Did you resign with your original pub company for your second deal because they've just been screwed. They just spent all this money on you didn't get anything. It's well, it's kind of um interesting that my publisher is a relative of mine, no kidding. And uh so we we kind of right at the beginning, sort of had a dream together and and he just kept saying, dude, it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. And uh yeah, I went with him again. How many years was your first deal? Three? Are you after year two? You're going into the year three? Are you like, like, I don't know if this is gonna happen. Yeah? I was discoured, just for sure. I was Why wasn't it happening? Were you not good enough yet? I think so? Yeah. And it's so funny because I was so like mad. I just I wasn't bitter and I wasn't um, what's I didn't blame the industry, and I wasn't that guy, but I was very frustrated. But I know, and and there were a few songs, but there is proof in the pudding that I only got like one cut from my first deal, and I just I was just I wasn't there yet. The songs weren't. I would go back and listen to them all the time, and I just kind of picked them apart, and I'm like, yeah, I just wasn't. It wasn't the radio yet. Do you ever go back and listen to an old song and then a bit rewrite it and make it better years later, like as a just like an exercise, if anything, I would, And I don't even think I've done this on purpose, but you know, you write a thousand songs, so you gotta write the same title eventually, even if you forget about it. But if anything, if I had a great, great idea or title that maybe I didn't know how to write, I would or I might like read right the whole idea, and if it was a co right, just split that with the people or either we write it with them or something like that. I'll be down for that. Your first money making song was up Down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was that the first song that ever got cut. No, my first cut was, but that was actually so I told two cuts. Updown was on my old deal. Um I should go to Church sometime by Tyler Farr. Oh yeah, that was my first cut and it was my first single. I died like in the sixties, I remember. Yeah, yeah, but still exciting to get that first single. When you get the call and they go, hey, it's a single. Are you pumped? Yeah, oh dude, yeah, I mean I thought it was gonna be rich. Not that that's why I do it, but um, yeah I was, yeah, I mean that's yeah, it's a it's a huge milestone and and and uh, you know, just a confidence boaster and it's like you are doing this and somebody legitimate cut your song and yeah, it's it was. It was all the wind and the sales I think that I needed. And then after that everything just kind of started happening, which is everybody said as like you get one and you get X amount or whatever. And I've seen that happen with a ton of my friends too. It's just funny how that works. So as much wind gets put in your sales when they say, hey, it's gonna be a single, did as much get taken out when it didn't hit, Yes, but up Down kind of cross faded with that, so I had a little hope there. Um, But around the time it died was when Morgen cut it, so we just still didn't know and he had only had the way I talked, um, So it's hard to you know, really gauge that, but um, yeah, it was a good It was enough cross fade for me to not like be super down and think maybe that was my shot. There had to be too a bit of excitement whenever it's not only Morrigan who who at the time was an unknown artist on a label who had no history at all, not even a success or not success, but no history, big lout of no history. But then when FGL gets on the song, you gotta go, oh man, I got another bullet for the gun inside of the song. Yeah, it was a huge um booster for him, and that was kind of a sigh of relief for you. I'm saying, like to write a song, you know, I f Gl's on the song It's not gonna die at sixty Uh Yeah, And that was that was kind of the Okay, this is gonna be a hit. There's no way it's not gonna be a hit. And uh, that was definitely a huge thing for all of that. That was all me, Brad Clawson and c J. Soler was our first really a few of our first cut or maybe mine and somebody else's like first or second cut and our first hit together too, So it was good for all of us. Let me play this here is Morgan walling up, down, down, up, damn down. You mentioned Brad Clawson. So when I heard about you the songwriter about to start turning into you the artist, it was from Nicole Galley and who's a friend, and she was like, yeah, hard he's he's gonna try to be an artist. And I did to know who you were. I just yeah, nobody did. If she was talking about the songs she'd written, she was like, I don't know, I'd try that, you know, because a lot of songwriters in town have either tried and it was unsuccessful, not a good experience, or they just don't want to do it. Yeah, you see all their friends do it and they're like, I don't know a by that. You never have someone who's a songwriter who hits it big for a couple of songs, it goes you know what, I'm good. I don't only do it. It's never that way. So you know if with the songwriter mostly they're they're like, I don't know, I want to live the artist lifestyle. But for you, was I always kind of the goal on the No, it was not. When I was in college like I kind of wanted to and then I signed a pub deal and I was just like, this is awesome and all I gotta do is write a song every day, and and uh no I had. I had. I had reached to the point where I had zero intentions of being an artist or at least like signing a record deal and like doing the thing. I might have had aspirations to put music out or something, but no, I had no. I had no plans to to do it. I'm gonna ask you, this is a weird question to ask, and I know what the answer is, but I wonder what your answer is When you say you didn't have aspirations to be an artist? Can you sing? Yes? Like? Like can you are you? Like? I'm a freaking I've never heard you sing right, It hasn't been you haven't been on the show, the radio show to play and I haven't seen you live, so I just go by the records. And some of my friends that are great artists can sing pretty well, but they go, you know what, I'm not the best singer. We've got song. I had a great performer, But can you sing? I think so? Yes? Do you think that? Do you understand the question like do you think that you can sing compared to Nashville? Yeah? I, um, I think it took me a while to figure that out or find my voice, but um, yes, I do. I consider myself a vocalist very much. So whenever you were coming up and you were looking at artists, or maybe you even just listen to artists when you're growing up in Mississippi, who was it that you were like, dang, let's because I sime you're in your thirties. Yeah. So I grew up with napster and and we started to download and then stream, so I was able to get music from every direction. Really, I was the first generation to do that. Where just because I grew up in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, population seven hundred, didn't mean I wasn't listening to Tupac and and Limp Biscuit and Berson Done. So we have all of this music coming from different angles. So I'm gonna ask you what came to you from outside of country music. First we were like, goddamn, man, this is what I love. Dude, Well that I mean rock and roll in general. Um, I didn't grow up listening to the country. I know that's like against the country music bible, but um so it was all rock and roll, old, a lot of old just from my dad, and I still love classic rock. But Stone Temple, Pilots, Uh, Sound Garden, Publo mud Limp, Biscuit. Yeah, the whole nineties vibe for you sounds like it was late kind of late nineties transitional to like early two thousands. Honestly, Nickelback do when they came out. When they first came out, dude, that some of those songs there were such hits, and I just my mom was blown so that I'm a Nickelback defender to my core because the only reason people hate Nickelback is because they got so freaking famous. And when somebody is so famous, you can't help but get people start to The cool thing to say is I don't like them. Yeah, sure, I just watched the Bags documentary, and I didn't get to experience the bejs. I was that was way too old to me. But they got so big and there was such a backlash that people just started hating on that. It was just the cool thing to do. Yeah, because everybody loved him. So I'm gonna be cool and go like, you know what, I don't love them. And then it slowly starts to be a movement. Sure, and I've seen that, and I don't know what. And listen, I have friends up hunging out those guys. They're like, they told U Bags. It doesn't matter to me. I their music was great at the time, it was, I mean it was it was just to me it was mind blowing too and kind of you know, the that was like even though like like you said, n Abster and whatever, all the lime wire or whatever, all the illegal things, where we still kind of had that beauty of hearing music for the first time without having like complete access to it like we do now. And and so when I heard stuff like nickelback Lincoln Park is another one um stuff, just it did something to me, man, like just completely inspired me. I don't even know how to explain it. But favorite artist of all time, Um Pink Floyd. Oh yeah, so similar. I grew up listening to classic rock radio and so I was like CCR credence was is really one of the most influential parts of music history to me. But I would assume that had to be your dad classic rock radio. Um yeah, I mean my first memory, like my first few memories were, um, my dad had a chicken farm for a long time and um uh he had like this little s ten and we would listen to the classic rock station out of Jackson, mississip being those are like I was probably three years old. I remember hearing free Bird for the first time and then like I heard it. I don't know how I remember this, but like later that day I heard it again on the radio and he was singing it and I was still kind of learning the concept of radio, and I remember asking my dad how he how do you know that song because the first time we heard it was earlier today, and he was like, no, Son, that's like actually an old song. But um yeah, classic rock radio was like very early in my my childhood, your death still alive and what do you think about what you're doing now? He's taking it all in stride. Both My parents are they love it. Their mind is kind of blown a little bit. My sister was I was very much a black sheep, and they will even admit this that she was. She's saying growing up and and um, I was just a kid and play baseball and sort of she moved to Nashville and you know, she was that was this was kind of her thing and and so um, it's just still sort of people are still in shock a little bit that the roles are kind of reversed. But my parents are they love it. Have they seen you perform to pretty crowded room? My folks, Yeah, the first time they saw that, they trip out a little bit. Yeah. The first time that they saw a good show was in Atlanta, and it was the first time that a crowd ever sang uh Rednecker. But it was when Rednecker was like kind of peeking, and um, they were in the crowd. And when I came back stage, like my mom was like crying a little bit or whatever, and they were just they I had never seen them freak out like that. It was. It was really cool. Mike de who's producing this, I was doing Standout and playing theaters around the country and Mike d had was opening for him and he was doing you know, five to seven minutes of comedy, but his parents didn't even know he was doing comedy. So we're so we're in Austin and it was the first time they come to see your first time ever. Oh my god, so similar? What did they think? They freaked out, Like they saw me walk out on stage and start telling jokes and like people laughing, and they were like, what is happening. That's amazing because he's so quiet, he says nothing, but then he gets up on stage and is a pretty funny guy. And I just kind of wonder if that was the same thing with your folks a little bit. I think so. Um I've yes, I think so, And they hadn't really seen that side of me, but they did. Also, like my first show ever was like this Halloween show I did in Nashville and it was like packed with industry people, so everybody was like extra hype just because it was like my first show and everybody knew, like we knew each other, but the real like to see it in front of real fans, I think was a whole different experience for them and for me. Where did Rednecker peak twenty three maybe twenty four, so you were right on the edge of really feeling it though. Huh yeah, it definitely took Uh. It's interesting though, because it didn't like One Beer, the fan base was like kind of learning the stuff before even One Beer kind of went top twenty and they knew Rednecker and it's still like the biggest, if not second biggest song of the night. But um yeah, I mean it was. It took a different different turn when One Beer came out. For sure, after Updown goes and hits, what was it crossing with any other songs at the same time. Yeah, so, um Simple came out right after that. I think Simple came out and like June or something, and uh, up Down went number one in July, so that was like the first like crossover. And um I remember Simple up Down at the number one party. Simple was number one. It's like a crazy cool kind of moment, you know, here is F G L Simple, Whether your second song that that hits. Sorry you starting to go, hey, I think I'm really gonna do this for a while, Like there's a pressure off your shoulders. Yes, definitely, Um yeah, I think like Up Down, like stood alone, and then I started really going on the road with f GL and Morgan was out there and Chris Lane was they were all on tour together, and the next thing, I know, um, Chris uh Lane um came up and I was like, Hey, I'm gonna cut the song you wrote. I don't know about you, and then like um and a couple of others, and then Morgan was he and I started writing a lot, and he was like, I'm gonna cut this and this and this and this with you, and then kind of f g L sort of followed suit. And that's like when I really knew like, Okay, I think I have a camp, and you know, because that's kind of the name of the game for the most part, you know, if you can at least find a crew and then you branch out and get cut sort of here and there everywhere else. But um, I I had never really had like a solid camp of people that I could trust in and and like felt like I was maybe their guy or this dude's guy or whatever. And that was the first time that I felt a lot of security from that. Here's Chris Lane, I don't know about you. What's your name? Your statue? Battle bird Day. You want to run through some of these. Here's low Cash. One big country songs around here is Jamison Roger. Some girls get them taking trip back home and they got some girl drinking. Here's Blake Shelton, God's Country. When Devin Dawson was in here, how about a week or so ago, he said, you sang the demo to this, Yeah, and that when you guys finished it in his recollection and he said, hey, you're going to writing. Everybody has different memories of what happens when that. He felt like that was a song for you. Yeah. I made a joke to uh Seth and Joey Um Joey moy Um, and I sent it to them and I said, I can't remember, and I tried tried to find the text and that you know, like it gets to it after a year or whatever. But I said something like unless somebody like Blake Shelton cuts this in a week, I want this for myself. And Blake cut it like now you can listen. You're pumped when he cuts it. Yeah, but it's one percent of You're like, man, I should wish I could cut that song. I never dude, I had modeled my uh like there. Blake had had put out so many songs that I loved and that I had like sort of gravitated towards that craft, and a lot of that was because of Craig Wiseman and like just other people that had Blake cuts. But um, it was such a dream of mine, uh to have a Blake cut, and especially one that he was hyped about. So I didn't even think twice about it. And I don't think that the song would have been as big for me as it was for him. I think it was so big as because it was so different. Well for him, it was the biggest song of the year. I mean that song with the song I suppose so no, no, I suppose it one one song of like it literally was the single of the year. Yeah, so there's no supposing that was it. I'm gonna play here's one more. You wrote, Morgan Wallen, more than my hometown Californy. So by doing math here, let's see one number one, two, three, four or five, six, seven nine, number one, you're worth about ten million dollars. Don't unless you're right meant to be or something. I don't I don't know if those are alright, alright, So your record. And again I'm gonna reference Staple too for a second because when Staple to put out From a Room Part one a part two, the big thing was is it from a room or from a right? And it's from a room right because that's the room a room. Yes. Now with your record, is it a rock or is it a rock? Uh? You know what's funny is it's probably a rock because the rock sounds like Iraq. Why. I've heard that joke a lot recently, Like man, I didn't think about that. Why a rock though? Um, well, it's you know, it is a song on the record, but also uh, I think there's a little bit of a word play there with that. The record sounds like a rock record. Um I never Okay, I didn't. I didn't cross where I decided on that. I thought about like, I thought of a million ideas and I can't even think of him now, But um, I just that's what we ended up with. And I do think that, you know, the record does definitely sound like a rock record, and that was just you know, aesthetically pleasing or whatever. Yeah, is the new single out because it goes for ads Monday? What is it? Give having some hell all right. Let let me play a little bit of this. This is from when you Stories still giving you write this one? Did you write all the songs on the record. I've heard this song a few times. Where have I heard this other that it would play other than just me checking out the record? Do you know? Uh? Have you played it anywhere? I put the only played played it at a w W E thing. It was like the Troops thing. It was on TV. I don't know if you saw that. Um, I mean, I don't know missed that one? Tell us? So give me the you know that that the thirty second version of You're in the room, the concept what the song means to you? Okay, So we were writing The first song on our record is called Truck, and originally the second the last half of the second verse, there's a line about a guy that has sticker on the back that says ninety two to twelve and in memory of his buddy, and and we were gonna we originally made the line he misses him our uh stories he can barely tell because he's giving heaven some hell. And me and Hunter Phelps and Ben Johnson, we were all like we that needs to be its own idea and so we changed the line and we we wrote down give Heaven some hell, and we wrote it like a week later. And to be honest, um, you know, I don't I've never lost like a best friend, thankfully or anything like that. And so, um, I wasn't pulling from like a like a real like experience or anything like that. Um, but I've definitely experienced it, uh you know second hand or or you know, there's stuff like that happened in my hometown a lot. So Um, there was no particular person in mind. But uh, I will say, Man, it's been the most the heaviest, um, like my Instagram and Twitter and stuff, and dude, just literally like thousands of just stories of people and I try to respond to all of them. But I know that it's reaching people and it makes That's really the kind of the realization I've had this year's is to have a platform where I can help people or at least trying to make people feel something. So I'm really proud of that one. I mean, you're hitting on all cylinders. Usually it's one or the other, and sometimes they shift, sure, but right now you're kind of hitting in all areas. Do you have any other songs that you have written for other folks that are out or starting to kind of flutter around a little bit like that. I wrote that just other singles. Yeah, maybe not even singles. Are there other you know, I'm assuming I don't. I don't know. This is true. On Morgan's record, You're on some of those songs. You wrote some of those. Yeah, I had a few on Morgan's And uh, right now I have like col swindale single single Saturday Night. Uh, it's guy Robert Counts he has a single outcoll what do I Know? And then um, Dylan Carmichael has a song called hot Beer. Um. I've been writing a lot with Dirks recently. Um it isn't Dirk's the best dude, like aside from just being you know, this songwriter. And I've been lucky to be friends with Dirk's on a different level than Yeah, he's just the best guy, dude. He's yes, as solid as you could you can get in town. And I found I found, I've like found that a lot of the guys that are like at the top are like that. And you know that Luke, Brian Uh, Blake Shelton and a lot of those guys like you're around him and you're like, man, y'all are just normal. You're just like you are, you know, on TV and everything and and just good dudes. And I love that. Man. If I ever get there, it's a testament to how I want to be one day, you know. And here's why, because people at that level don't have to prove anything to anybody. Sure you know I would, I'll say, um, a two single new artist, no offense to yourself, I just know, or like a soap opera star or someone that's new on a TV show, and that when you get that first taste of success, you start to go, I gotta prove that I'm worth to be here, and to prove my worth, I need to be a certain way. And you have this, and I think I went through it a bit too when some of my TV stuff. Not that I treat people different, but I was like, I gotta show people that I'm actually worth what I'm getting to do. And it's a weird feeling to have. But then once you prove it to yourself, you're like, you know what, I kind of have what is sustainable? I'm just gonna be who I am. And those guys are like that Keith Urban. Yes, he's another one. Dude, the greatest dude. So nice man. You just would be like, are you a little big town yes a dude. Yes, you're like you guys real and you hang around them and you're like, one day I'm gonna catch you getting out of character character. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting too, and like just how they handle success and and uh yeah, I just I like, look at them. I mean they I don't know if they know, but all those people that you mentioned are like role models at this point because I just want to be like that as a person if I ever get to be to that point. You know, I think it's just an insecurity that every listen, you can't create and be secure, Like, you can't be a creator and not be insecure in some way, I agree, because you're laying it out there in a vulnerable way every single time. Yeah, totally. It doesn't matter if you're writing songs, writing books. You gotta go, Okay, I've created this, will you please like it? To do that, and you want people's approval, you need it. That's why you you didn't do it. You know, wouldn't have done it in the first place. If you do that, you gotta open up your ribs a little bit. And so when that happens, I tend I was tending to get extremely insecure into be withdrawn more than be angry. I was just or mean. I'm just I was just completely withdrawn. Now not so much. I'm like, Okay, I think I'm gonna be here for a but I feel confident. But I think it's the same thing you made up. I just brought up a great point. Luke Bryant. We're together all the time shooting American Idol, and people are always like Luke Forward fifty seventy million dollars and like the nicest, coolest guy in the world. You never know almost much as you with all these songs when you tell people you're from Philadelphia, or do you ever see just stay Philadelphia and see if they can put it together? Dude, Every every time I meet somebody new, I have to would go through the thing every single time. Yeah, I say it, And when I say Philadelphia, like I see their confused face for like a split second, and then I say Mississippi and they're like, oh, makes a joke about it. But when you started writing, did you go buy a full name or you always party, you did, Yeah, I did. It's just that hardy, like all my friends called me hardy, and I don't know, it's just like kind of one of those like I have a couple of buddies that I just have always called them by their last name for whatever reason. And uh So when it just came time to sort of do the artist thing that somebody kind of brought it up and I was like, yeah, I think that's cool, something different and why all caps? It's just bold? Um. I think it's just kind of you know, Rednecker being the first song, and I think the music being a little more intense than than maybe some of the stuff in the format. I just you know, I think it just stands out are you are you feeling? And again, I don't want you to take this the wrong way because I compared to you and I both to average white guys. If you just see us, we're just normal dudes. You know. Um that there's I would call it kind of a normal core happening in country music. In this hardcore, but like you look normal, yeah, uh, Luke Holmes looks normal. Colmes created normal core, I think for the longest time. Uh, A lot of country acts before him, and really Stapleton kind of in a way, in my opinion maybe sort of helped develop that, but I think Luke Homes kind of delivered it to everybody. But uh, yeah, it's cool to look normal again. I think before that it was like everybody was like it was or was trying to look like a professional wrestler or something. Yeah, either an extreme cowboy, a chained up wrestlings. Like you had to have your esthetic niche. But you don't have to have that anymore. No, So up do what you're good at. And if you're good, I mean, the more normal you look, I feel like if you're you know, if you're good, people are gonna go nuts. Yeah. When Jamison Rodgers was here, he was leaving that night after we had talked to go and playing the softball the league that you guys were playing in, and so I know you were on the team. How how physically are you holding up when you go back and play ball? Uh? I was sore. I hurt. Uh I can't even hurt my knee or something like the last game. Um, dude, I that was a big like oh god, I'm getting old kind of thought. Uh, but dude, that was fun and you guys didn't win the whole thing. Huh, you're freaking stacked. Uh man, it was I tell you why we got beat and myself included. Everybody tried to hit a home run every single time they got up to bat. So we we I would bet eight percent of our outs were long fly balls. It just we couldn't help it, like everybody wanted to hit a home run, I swear because we were good in the field. We had great outfielders, We had good infield. We didn't make a ton of errors. Uh, we just we would have to. All right, bats were tough, we we were good. We want a decent bit of games. But now we didn't go all the way. Do you feel like you had a target on your back because you were all the singers? Like when you were without a doubt, dude, Oh my god, you were the duke of college basketball. Like even the bad teams are getting up because they're about play as hard as they've ever played. Absolutely. Oh man. There were some teams some of the guys are really cool and they would like kind of yell at us and make like a song reference joke or you know, just something like that. And then there was there were a couple of teams that like you could just tell they were like these freaking country singer YadA YadA yadas and uh, oh dude, we felt it every single game. It was intense. Did you ever finish the game and the other guys be like, hey, ge get a picture before we get out? Yeah? And by the end, um, you know, Morgan only was only at a few. He had a lot going on, you know, but I thank god he wasn't at every game where I think it might have been chaos because it was just sort of at his he was really starting to peak. Uh and and uh with which there was a ton of you know, like celebrity singers on our team. But chrys Lane, let's walk to it. Yeah, Chris Lane, you Jamison, Jordan Davis, Jordan Davis, obviously Morrigan, there's five five. Riley Green played one game. Uh, hey didn't come back. Um, John Langston was there. Um, god, you're not the team I would want to fight either. No. I know we were, we were thick, but yeah, for sure, Ernest I don't know if you know Ernest I say him on Twitter sometimes Yeah, I don't know. He was on there and then and then some some of the younger guys Jeb Gibson, Hunter Phelps and uh yeah, but but it was cool man. It was a you know, our team name was the Recoupable. So I don't know, I just probably saw it on Jamison was he wearing this jersey? And I think guys saw it on Instagram maybe Jordan and posted a pictures yea, and which I think is hilarious because in case you don't know, are recoupable, you have to pay the money back that the label pays you. They're like, hey, we're gonna give you a five dollars to go make a record. Well you gotta pay that five dollars. That's where the five bucks is. Yeah, so yeah, that's and you guys had jerseys. Yeah, no, I guess they were not like jersey in form or in um material, but yeah, we had uniforms. We had like, uh, just very classic looking baseball shirt. This someone by all them for you do you all have to go out and do Amison handled the whole thing and we just we just paid him. So that's like old school softball. Yeah, that doesn't give him all the money. We're gonna try to do it again in the spring. If the code stuff kind of uh is still you know, it's not looking like it's gonna be uh happening in the spring as far as tor goes. So I think we're gonna try to do it again. Are you a gambler a little bit? Are you gambling more now that it's legal here? Uh? No. I was doing it the same before to me though, and I was to a bit, but I was so tired of paying in bitcoin to an offshore site. I was gonna check from like Armenia and the bank want cash it or like like for sure they think there's some terrorist activity going on worse. Yeah, And so I started to get tired of that. But now I'm on DraftKings. Yeah, three or four times a week. It's the greatest new part of my life. I've never done draft kings, like because you do that kind of in a fantasy format, right you can. Yes, I gamble on games, just just regular straight up. Yeah, that's what lines, you know, money lines, It's just like anything else. Yeah. So I mean especially during the break because you know, I'll do the radio show Monday through Friday morning immediately even go shoot TV on the weekends, and whenever I'm doing you can't gamble in every state, so I have to get I have to get my betsand before I leave I did that before I went to Colorado with Dirks and him, I had to do all of my national all of the playoff and all that stuff. And I did it like in the airport because I was like, oh my god, I'm about to screw up. But that's how you know we have a problem. Well we're going, okay, I'm acrossing the state line. Yeah, it's fun. It makes it, dude. It makes any game interesting. Like if there is a game on and it just started and it's the Nicks versus the Sons or whatever, and you don't care about it, then just put like fifty bucks or whatever on it and then it's like suddenly the most intense thing ever. Last night I had a seven and I don't usually bet long parlays, but a seven game parlay and I got to the seventh game and it was the Brooklyn Nets. I don't bet NBA much because Brooklyn nets Cleveland Cavaliers, and Brooklyn was down by about nine with three minutes left. They come, they tie and go to overtime. This is my seventh game. Yeah, by the way, who did you have money? Brooklyn at Brooklyn and and it was a money line. I wasn't playing to spread. I needed him to do was freaking win seven games. I had put down a hundred bucks. I was gonna all they have to do is win the game. They lost. My seventh game, they lost in double overtime and double overtime, all freaking overtime. How do you lose with James Harden, Kevin Duran, Kyrie Irving and you can you can also go, you know what, I'm gonna take the money I've already won and check out. You can like go cash in. And I felt so good about the bet. Oh yeah, I wanted to pull my hair off. Um dude. My my favorite one this year was I put a hundred bucks on l s U versus Florida money line. I had a gut feeling and the football, Oh that's right, because everybody and Florida was still on the hunt to be in the National Change you about the money line, yes, And I was like, dude, I just I have a gut feeling. LSU's gonna play them at least a really good game when they beat him, and I was that was That was my best of the year. You play golf, Yeah you're good. Yeah, oh you are yeah. Never why that's just annoying. But you know, not even the scratch. You guys that come in and you can sing and you can write, and you can play golf and you can play like all. That's just annoying to somebody like me whos had to like hustle and grab my teeth for every single thing to play golf, to play ball everything. So when did you start playing golf? When I was like twelve? Okay, so you've had a bit of history at it. I haven't. I mean, like, I'm not like fundamentally like you know what I mean. I don't have like the perfect swing or anything. But I've been playing a long time. I love it, dude. It's my favorite sport to play. Who do you play with in Nashville, Um brad Terci, Yes, A pretty good bit. I got a songwriter buddy of mine, James McNair, that I play with a ton um play with Devin A good bad Play with Jamison A good bit. Uh. There's a great community of of dudes that that play. A lot of people play golf, and I think a lot of people really picked it up this past year. Um, but I love it. Dude. You seem like you're lefty, so am I how are you? Yeah? I can never see a lot of lefties here. Never. I can never use anybody's clubs. I can never play anybody's guitar. Yeah, you play left handing guitar. See I play right handed guitar. Is it because there were right handed guitars available? I think so, Like my first one as a gift was a right handed guitar. But um, it still feels like natural for me to play right handed and not. I don't feel like I could play left handed, So I think it is a natural thing somehow. Yeah. If people are playing and they're like they do that funny song that you do, and I'm like, all right, well, there's no freaking guitar. That sucks, it sucks. That is that's worse than golf clubs, because like, at least you have your own in that situation. But that's like ning is like that. I've played Travises, he plays left handed guitar. He's probably good. Keith Up took my guitar once, who's not left handed, and goes, let me see if I can just probably this and he has a little conversation with both of his hands and he goes, all right, you do this, you do this, and then he starts to play I don't know, four times better than I do. That would make me He's unreal, dude. Like he had a conversation, are you gonna do what you usually do? And you do that all right? Break and he's like, oh my gosh, that's insane, amazing slash annoying. I wish that there was more, uh more, there were more things like products and stuff that appealed to left handed people you right, left handed, especially when we had use pencils at all, because you got you have, you have that. I thought about getting a tattoo one time where like this, like to get this whole thing shaded, like to represent like the yeah, because if you're left handed, for those that don't know, and most of you don't, you have to drag your hand across the paper like you right, you right, and then you go across what you just wrote, so you always so it's always all over your life. Stucks, man. Even you guys don't even know. Mike, you have no idea what stuff it is. Um in the winter, it's been because I have the Gulf, I have the simulator and I saw it. Yeah, that's been where it's that I want one. I've had more friends in the winter then i've had all that's funny. They're like, hey, man, what what's doing today? You can play any course on there? Right, Yeah? Mostly that's amazing. Yeah, so that that's been kind of the winter project. Is Is it pretty? I mean, of course it's just a trap man. So it's like super accurate, right, yeah, it's it's it's yeah, it's accurate. I say that, and I'm like, man, real life, I wouldn't hear the shot that bad. Let's be honest. I would have hit the shot that bad. So well, man, it's been good to hang out, good to talk with you. Thanks for having me. No, for sure, I'm looking forward to see what happens with you next. I mean it's that odd mix of you're kind of hitting in a lot of different ways at the same time, and and for that I commend to you, because that doesn't happen without a ton of hard work. Like you can be good. I have a lot of friends are good at stuff but don't work and it doesn't pop, or maybe it just pops. For a second. So to have this success that's all kind of hitting you at once. It isn't by accident, and it isn't just because you're talented. You know in this town where everyone is a giant, that the talent around you, everybody's amazing for you to have this much success, like like, I respect it, thank you, I appreciate what you're doing, and congratulations, thank you, and everybody pleasure. Check out a rock? Rock? What is it? Say it? I would say a rock. Okay, that's what I was. That's what in conversation, I would say, a rock. Check out a rock. It sounds like, all right, that's what's up. There is following on Instagram at hardy tough to get the handle or I had to pay five bucks. I just had to pay interesting. Well, first of all, I can't get at Bobby Bones for anything. For I've said, yeah, for five seven, eight years, I've offered money and the person who has it doesn't even really use it. Is it a guy or is it you? They're posting stuff of yours. It's a guy that's just like he's another Bobby Yeah, who in Well, it's a stupid name. It's not our real name. Bobby is bones is it? And so've I've given up and so I just used Mr Bobby Bones right all across the board. Well, we started this kind of online cooking show my fiance did and it's called Unfancied Cooking, and I was like, this is a good name, less name at that. She's really talented at it. So we did it. Somebody's squatted as soon as we put it up. Somebody squatted the Instagram. So I get a message going, hey, I have this, gonna buy it? And I was like, all right, get fifty bucks because okay, I'm gonna reward you for your ingenuity. Okay, as sleazy as it could be, that is legal. Yeah, you're right, I said, get bucks. They say give me a thousand, No way, one YouTube episode. It's not work. So I say, don't message me again, just playing, just being negotiating here and there. In about a week later, they come back, you, okay, we'll do for seven fifty, I said, because I didn't need it that bad. And so in the end, how much you think I gave for it in the end, uh, seventy five dollars. No, I'm not that good of a negotiator, I get I ended up giving him. That's not bad, you know. I mean, you got him down like seven fifty, that's not bad. I would have probably gone up a bit, but they kind of chickened out and thought I was gonna walk. And that's the key. Yeah, you're right. I'm so bad at that, dude. I need to be better. So that's the risk up. Well, listen, if I screw this up, I'm gonna get no nothing. Yeah you're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well listen at Hardy follow him. Good to talk to you, man to man. Hopefully will listen. I won't see out anywhere because I don't go out, but other than that, yeah, i'll see you out there, all right,