HARDY returns to the genre that launched his career with the highly anticipated release of COUNTRY! COUNTRY!. Out today (Friday, Sept. 26) via Big Loud Records, the project follows the star’s first-ever headlining show at Madison Square Garden. It features 20 noteworthy tracks that find the Philadelphia, Mississippi native going back to his roots.
With such a literal title, HARDY’s heart is at the center of the record as he explores themes of love, revenge, life, and a redneck-styled way of living.
Fans have already gotten a taste of COUNTRY! COUNTRY!, with the May 2025 release of EP COUNTRY!, which included five tracks — the nostalgic “Buck On The Wall,” the heartfelt “Girl With A Gun,” chart-climbing country radio single “Favorite Country Song,” the album’s only outside cut “Car That Drove You Away,” and the thankful “Luckiest Man Alive.” HARDY also gave a sneak peek into the project with early previews, including the southern hymn “Bottomland,” his collaboration with ERNEST “Bro Country,” and “Dog Years,” which he wrote nearly 15 years before becoming a household name.
Both COUNTRY! COUNTRY! and COUNTRY! follow the 35-year-old hitmaker’s first full-length rock album Quit!!, as well as his half-country half-rock collection, the mockingbird & THE CROW. Thus, it’s been a while since HARDY has made his way back into the country atmosphere, but the format has welcomed him home with open arms as the project once again proves that, at his core, HARDY has always been someone with a knack for storytelling.
Right off the bat, the singer/songwriter makes a statement on COUNTRY! COUNTRY! with the ear-grabbing, drum-thrashing title track, written alongside David Garcia and Ashley Gorley. Lyrically, the tune finds HARDY representing his love of where he came from and how he was raised as he waves his prideful country flag with a personalized vision of how America should look.
Call it a utopia of sorts or perhaps paradise in HARDY’s eyes, he sings the chorus: “I take a wreckin’ ball to knock it all down / Turn every too big city to a small town / Put all them slicks in the sticks / Yeah it might sound kinda funny / What if everybody got a dog in the truck and some farm land / Rifle by the bed and a Bible on the nightstand / If it was up to me / I’d make the whole damn country country.”
There’s no shortage of redneck anthems on COUNTRY! COUNTRY! Take, for example, “Bedrooms In The Sky,” feat. Stephen Wilson Jr., one of two collaborations on the album, or the previously released “Bottomland,” as well as “Who Don’t” and “Country in Me.” The album paves the way for an artist who’s ready to fill out arenas for his next headlining run. But give the guy a pen, a notebook, and a guitar, and he’s right in his element. “Keep It Country,” “Dog Years,” and the thought-provoking album closer, “Everybody Does,” showcase that singer/songwriter side of the edgy country/rocker.
As Eric Church has previously said while accepting the ACM Icon Award during the ACM Honors, “In my opinion, Hardy’s one of the greatest songwriters Nashville has, that’s ever held a pen.” But HARDY doesn’t necessarily need anyone to put in a good word for him when it comes to proving his songwriting expertise. He’s already cemented a legacy of his own, having become the first-ever recipient of the ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year Award, and in 2022, he won the triple crown of songwriter awards: ACM Songwriter of the Year, BMI Country Songwriter of the Year, and AIMP Songwriter of the Year. If that’s not enough of a songwriting pedigree, the artist, who earned a degree in songwriting at Middle Tennessee State University, has also earned credits for Morgan Wallen’s “Sand In My Boots,” Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night” and Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” just to name a few of the hit songs he wrote that don’t appear on his own records.
He reminds folks of that tunesmith talent with storytelling songs like “I’d Go Crazy,” penned alongside Hunter Phelps, and “Take The Country And Run,” written with David Garcia and Ashley Gorley. On the latter, HARDY describes a dream he experienced, where he had to choose between all the money he ever wanted or a few seeds and some dirt. Taking the less-likely choice, he gives reasoning to why he’d prefer watching “Steam rolling off my coffee” and “Fog rolling off the hills” over a glamorous lifestyle of riches.
“I’ve seen the lights of LA from a penthouse suite / I’ve drank the finest champagne at 30,000 feet / I’ve worn a house on my wrist / Got all these names in my phone / But everything on that list / Ain’t got nothing on / Picking on some Hank around a fire / Sipping on a beer in a blind / Or watching God paint the sky when the day is done / Hell with all that gold it don’t shine / Like the morning sun through them pines / You keep that money buddy / I’ll take the country and run,” HARDY croons the chorus of the song.
With such prowess in his penning skills, it’s hard to remember that HARDY’s vocal presentation and musicianship can also stand on its own. Keep in mind that this is an artist who has no problem challenging his singing voice. On songs like “Bottomland” and “Country In Me,” he reaches for the soaring high notes on the chorus, while on tunes like “Take The Country And Run” and “Who Don’t,” he leans into his talking style of singing that separates him from a healthy number of other stars in his lane.
In terms of the sonic landscape of the record, HARDY knows when to channel his rock influences and when to pull back to keep it country. Tracks like “Luckiest Man Alive” and “Everybody Does” lean deeper into the country sound, while “Girl With A Gun” and “I’d Go Crazy” remind listeners that the chart-topper still has rock running through his veins. HARDY knows the difference between settling into a genre and blending two genres. He has mastered a double-sided coin, where one side is country and the other is rock. And, he’s living proof that he’s done his homework, name-dropping the predecessors and outlaws like Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and those who have shaped people like him to come along.
But, HARDY isn’t just a follower of the music; he lives it. He’s country through and through. A Mississippi redneck, he grew up hunting, fishing, and wearing camouflage. When he’s not on stage pumping out energy and electrifying massive audiences with chart-topping headbangers, he’s off collecting arrowheads in rural Tennessee or living out his new role as a family man to his daughter Rosie Ryan and wife Caleigh Hardy.
For HARDY, things are complex, but life is simple. He covers the various facets of his world and what he has gone through in COUNTRY! COUNTRY! While he resonates with the rednecks, the rebels, and the backwoods country folks from a small town, he also leaves room for the universal audience, touching on a subject that people everywhere think about, but never talk about — death. HARDY shines a light on what some may call the “dark side” of his artistry on songs like “Goodbye” and “We’re All Gonna Die.”
The multifaceted, genre-bending singer has previously opened up about his mental health after a scary and unexpected 2022 bus crash disrupted the lives of him and three other members of his crew. He has even touched on the subject of death in songs like “A Rock” and “Six Feet Under.” But on COUNTRY! COUNTRY!, he’s a man who yearns to add more years to his life, making the most of every second, and taking in each moment for what it is.
“I wanna do it all / ‘Cause dammit after all / Unless we both go at the same time / One day / Oh baby we’ll say / Goodbye,” he sings, on “Goodbye,” written with Jesse Joe Dillon, Cam Montgomery, and Phelps, inviting a love interest to explore the world with him.
Meanwhile, on “We’re All Gonna Die,” he sings, “So jump in the water / Call up your buddies / Drink a bunch of beer / Stay out until two / Say I’m sorry / Say I love you / Hell it ain’t gonna kill you.”
“We’re All Gonna Die” almost made the title for the record, as it delivers a common theme throughout the 20-piece offering.
In a statement, HARDY acknowledges, “There’ve been so many great moments in my career and in my life that I, for some reason, have had a hard time enjoying them because I was thinking about the next thing. As cheesy as it sounds, I’m starting to train myself to live in the moment. Diving into the rock world was awesome, and it’s very much part of who I am, but I missed it. I missed country.”
“I’ve never been more fired up about a record than I am about COUNTRY! COUNTRY!” HARDY added. “This album is like a love letter to the genre that’s given me everything. I think there’s something for everyone in here, and I can’t wait to share it with the world. I hope everyone enjoys listening to this one as much as I enjoyed making it.”
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With COUNTRY! COUNTRY!, HARDY doesn’t just return to his roots, he reclaims his throne as one of Nashville and Country music’s most fearless and gifted songwriters. HARDY’s new album, COUNTRY! COUNTRY!, is available now HERE, and everywhere you can buy music.
