Writing hits comes naturally for genre-blending singer-songwriter Hardy. He’s unapologetically country as heck, to paraphrase a song he’s been closing concerts with, but Michael Wilson Hardy soaked up rock, metal, hip-hop and industrial music influences while growing up in Philadelphia, Miss. He leans into those influences on his solo work, but it was on the country charts that he first came to prominence penning hits for Florida Georgia Line, Morgan Wallen and Blake Shelton.
After reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s country album charts and No. 4 on the Top 200, Hardy faces a unique dilemma when he’s in the composition zone. “The biggest challenge is, like, if I write a song, I’m like, ‘I know it’s a hit song,’” he said in an episode of Amazon Music’s Songline series. “Is it ‘me’ enough to keep it, or should I keep it because it’s a hit song? Should I give it to somebody else?”
More and more, he’s keeping it. This could be in part due to Hardy having earned the freedom to explore his Southern rock and metal inclinations on albums like 2023 chart-topper The Mockingbird & the Crow and his latest album Quit! While country radio might not take to vocals reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails and distortion-driven guitar rhythms, audiences embraced his pioneering sound when he toured North America last year.
A lot of his popularity is due to his celebration of redneck culture, which doesn’t come much clearer than on the lead track from his newly released Country! EP, “Buck on the Wall.” The song recalls his grandfather’s deer camp, with a heavy guitar rhythm joining the arrangement at 57 seconds in. The EP closes out with “Favorite Country Song,” which finds Hardy stringing classic country song titles together into lyrics for the opening verse.
Country music was all around as Hardy grew up playing Little League baseball and attending church. He told the L.A. Times that he thought country music was corny and couldn’t understand the lyrics in nü metal, preferring the wordsmithing of Creed, Nickelback and Three Doors Down. He studied music in college and made his way to Nashville, where he networked and immersed himself in the songwriters’ scene.
Hardy released his first EP, This Ole Boy, in 2018. He co-wrote “God’s Country” for Blake Shelton, which became a No. 1 country hit and a Top 20 pop success. He then recruited a plethora a musicians for his Hixtape, Vol. 1 project, which was less about generating hits than having a good time recording. Trace Adkins, Joe Diffie, Hillary Lindsey, Keith Urban and Wallen were among the collaborators, and the recording became a critical and commercial success.
Since scoring a hit featuring Lainey Wilson with 2023’s “Wait in the Truck,” Hardy has been able to do whatever he wants. This year’s Jim Bob World Tour finds him country rocking in Europe before returning to North America, where the beer is plentiful, he has a newborn child and there’s still a buck on the wall in the hunting cabin his grandfather built.
T-Mobile Arena, 6:30 p.m. May 23, starting at $49 plus tax and fee. axs.com
Click here for your free subscription to the weekly digital edition of Las Vegas Magazine, your guide to everything to do, hear, see and experience in Southern Nevada. In addition to the latest edition emailed to every week, you’ll find plenty of great, money-saving offers from some of the most exciting attractions, restaurants, properties and more! And Las Vegas Magazine is full of informative content such as restaurants to visit, cocktails to sip and attractions to enjoy.
