HARDY stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to talk about his upcoming rock album, react to Scuba Steve’s screaming version of his song “Truck Bed” and more!
HARDY’s music style is multifaceted. He is an accomplished country singer-songwriter as well as a rock artist. For 8 years when he’d go in the studio to write, he was just trying to do whatever idea came to him that day and didn’t try to write with a certain outcome. He didn’t lean into rock until his 2018 EP, This Ole Boy, and due to its positive outcome, he started to embrace it more. There have been people who think he does not belong in country music since his songs aren’t “country” enough, but he wants to know where the rule book is on what defines a genre of music. Country has no true definition for him and as he’s gotten older, he’s become more adamant about music not having rules and just doing what you want to do because it’s all art in the end.
His new Quit!! Tour was inspired from a show he did at the Flora-Bama in 2015. He was playing in a songwriter's room with two of his buddies and none of them had hits yet. At the end of the night when they emptied the tip jar, he saw someone put a napkin in it that said “Quit!!” He laughed and kept it and still has it sitting amongst all his awards today. His new record will be 100% rock and will be called Quit!! The cover art will be a picture of the napkin that inspired the song. He won’t work this album to country radio and is looking forward to fully immersing himself into the rock world.
The Bobby Bones Show executive producer, Scuba Steve, was once the lead screamer in a screamo band and recorded a cover of him screaming to HARDY’s “Truck Bed.” HARDY thought it was great and that screamo is a skill. He does a little screaming during his shows, but it’s hard to do that every night and be able to protect your voice. He’s concerned about not blowing his voice out, so he’s been more responsible with taking care of himself.
His latest project, HIXTAPE Vol.3: Difftape will be released March 29th. It’ll feature only Joe Diffie songs with his original recordings with Diffie’s voice on it. His son, Parker, gave him the blessing to strip some of the vocals and have other artists come in and record the songs. It’s a cool project he can’t wait for everyone to hear!