LIVE NATION PRESENTS: HARDY
LIVE AT HARD ROCK LIVE IN WHEATLAND, CA ON 3/11/23
Country artist Hardy is one who falls outside your standard country music. Yes, he has songs that tell a story and his roots are in country but he is so much more that. He entered the country realm writing songs for Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley, Chris Lane, and many others.
There are some modern country artists that add hard rock to their songs to add a kick to their music but still stay in the lane of country. Hardy adds hard rock/heavy metal to his songs and it isn’t a kick but an all-out beat down and keeps you there. This would normally not work with other country artist but there’s an authenticity to what he’s doing. It comes from a love of both genres of music and although it’s a hybrid of country, it also has a home in the metal genre as well.
Hardy’s song ‘Jack’ is being played in heavy rotation on hard rock radio from his sophomore album “The Mockingbird & the Crow” which was released in January on Big Loud Records. I liked what I heard and wanted to hear more and I was blown away on how hard the music was on many of the tracks.
I found out Hardy was bringing his tour a show a couple hours away from where I live and I ventured out to go see him perform live. Hardy was playing at Hard Rock Live in Wheatland just north of Sacramento. When I got to the venue I found a line going through the casino floor of fans waiting to get in. Many of the fans already had Hardy t shirts on and I saw more rock t shirts there than I did other country artists.
The show started with a killer light show and power chords from the very first note as Hardy performed “Sold Out”. This song is a true rocker with lyrics that reflect the life of a musician doing things his way. His vocals range from clean to gritty death metal tones and from the point he hit the stage the crowd sang his lyrics along with him. His fan base would continue to sing every song along with him throughout the show.
His next song was another hard rock track ‘Kill Sh!t Till I Die’ followed by the rock radio played ‘Jack’. Hardy smoothly mixes his set with modern country songs like “Boots’, ‘Unapologetically Country As Hell’, ‘One Beer’, and ‘I in Country”.
The country radio hit ‘Wait In The Truck’ was performed with Laney Wilson’s vocal track added in. As the show continued Hardy performs ‘Red’ with Jameson Rodgers joining him on vocals with Jameson covering the parts sung by Morgan Wallen on the original recording. Hardy played through several more sing along songs as the night went on.
‘Radio Song’ was performed with Blame My Youth vocalist Sean Van Vleet joining Hardy on stage and adding to the hard rock pounding they gave to the audience with this one. Before we go any further we have to give props to Hardy’s band members; guitarists Justin Loose and Rhett Smith as well as drummer Harry Miree for bringing the thunder. These guys show their versatility in jumping from country to rock to metal effortlessly.
Hardy’s lyrics always tell a story worth hearing. Hardy plays a few more songs until he tells the story of the hit song ‘God’s Country’ which he wrote and was recorded by Blake Shelton. The version Hardy plays is a lot heavier than what was recorded by Shelton.
The evening comes to a close as Hardy starts the song ‘The Mockingbird & The Crow’ with just him onstage with an acoustic guitar. As the song continues the band cues in and the tone changes as this song goes hard!
Hardy put on a show that didn’t cater to country fans or rock fans, he put on a show that catered to Hardy fans and there were a lot of them (including myself). For those who want to hear great music that isn’t pigeon holed into one genre and done by an artist who isn’t trying to play is safe and is truly doing things his way….Hardy is the one to take to time to listen to and see live.
