HARDY couldn’t be in a better place these days. He’s got a new album out called the mockingbird & THE CROW, and he’s gearing up to hit the road for his headlining tour in support of the half-country, half-rock album. But it wasn’t long ago that the BMI Songwriter of the Year faced a life-and-death situation when his tour bus was in a horrific accident.
Folks will recall the Mississippi native and three of his crew members, including his tour manager, Noah Brown, photographer, Tanner Gallagher, and bus driver, Ricky, were involved in a serious bus accident in October of 2022 while on their way home from a show in Bristol, Tenn. The bus, according to CMT, “ran off the highway at approximately 70 mph and flipped into the woods.” Everybody on the bus, including HARDY, sustained injuries and were treated at a nearby hospital.
On a brand-new episode of Jennifer Vickery Smith’s Got It From My Momma Podcast, HARDY’s mom, Sarah Hardy, opened up about the accident that her famous son had experienced. During the conversation, she revealed HARDY’s good buddy, fellow country superstar Morgan Wallen had been talking with him leading up to the scary incident.
“They played a show in Bristol together, and Morgan was actually FaceTiming with Michael,” HARDY explained. “Morgan [was FaceTiming] from his bus [while] Michael [was] on his bus. They were joking around and FaceTiming when the accident happened. Morgan knew something had happened. But he wasn’t sure what, so he tried to call back but couldn’t get anyone to answer [their phones]. It just went black. The phone just kind of flew across the room and went black.”
HARDY went onto say that Wallen wasn’t sure whether or not HARDY was playing a joke with him.
“You know, They just goof around,” she reasoned. “But anyway, he approached his bus driver, Morgan did. And then that bus driver tried to contact Michael’s bus driver. And through the course of a lot of different things, people began to figure out, oh, something has happened. There were some very, very serious injuries.”
HARDY’s mother, who had received a phone call from tour manager Brown that her son had gotten in an accident, added that it was Gallagher who suffered the most injuries and was still working on the recovery process.
She also revealed that Morgan Wallen, who was the headliner of the show that HARDY had played at, had brought the “SOLD OUT” singer back home from the hospital.
“The thing that I was hesitant about is I did not want that life for him because as you know, and you will learn even more having a son in it, that it is, it’s a difficult life, and it’s a sacrificial life to be able to achieve what you need to achieve to be successful. There are a lot of things that you have to give up now,” Hardy said of the hardships that come along with being a touring artist. “People say, oh, that’s whatever. That’s the fame and the glory. And that is a glamorous life. It is in pictures, and it is a wonderful life, and it provides a good living. And there are so many wonderful things about it. But at the end of the day, you’re away from home, and it is a lot of hard physical work and travel.”
“Michael is a country boy at heart. He really and truly is. What he sings about is not fake. He really is what he sings about… he loves to be in the woods and hunt and to fish [and] loves alone time with his thoughts. [HARDY] loves to sit quietly in a deer stand,” she continued. “I mean, those are real things to him. I knew that all those things would be challenging, and those times would get shorter and shorter. And I, as with all good parents, want their children just to be happy. So that was my fear for Michael. I just didn’t want that life to take away from his life some of the basic things that make him happy.”
HARDY’s Mom Also Talked About Her Son Receiving One Of Nashville’s Biggest Awards
Luckily, the difficulties are only one part of the process, and HARDY has gone on to achieve much success. His mom adds that, she too, had goals for him. They included earning a No. 1 hit, winning BMI Songwriter of the Year, and achieving a Song of the Year award.
Opening up about his BMI Songwriter of the Year, she beamed, “When we got the call that he had won that, I just cried. I’m not big on the accolades and all that. I want him to impact people and do the right things as any mother wants their child to do, regardless of what their job is. But I knew that he was finally being rewarded for his hard work, his many, many, many years of hard work, and what an honor, honor that was out of all the songwriters in this town who are fabulous.”
HARDY’s upcoming the mockingbird & THE CROW tour, named after his sophomore album, kicks off on February 16, at Old National Centre in Indianapolis, Indiana. The tour will wrap up on April 29, at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas.
The Got It From My Momma Podcast, launched by Vickery, who is also mom to rising country artist Conner Smith, brings together the mothers of some of country music’s biggest stars. The mothers of Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Parker McCollum, and Lauren Alaina have also been featured on Got It From My Momma.
