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Grace White is a college senior who plays first base for Union University, a DII school in Jackson, Tennessee, and is majoring in Journalism. She writes frequently for Extra Inning Softball sharing her thoughts regarding all things on and off the field.
She is also the Sports Editor for the Cardinal & Cream, the school’s student publication, and has a younger sister who plays in the Virginia Unity club organization.
In today’s Inside Pitch, Grace gives us a music review of HARDY and his latest album “the mockingbird & THE CROW.”
And what does Grace think of the country singer and songwriter named Michael Wilson Hardy who is known professionally as HARDY who has written songs for a diverse array of singers—from Chris Lane and Blake Shelton to Thomas Rett and Morgan Wallen?
Grace sums it up with one sentence: “HARDY is the King of the Redneck Anthemn!”
Here’s her review of “the mockingbird & THE CROW”…
*****
HARDY is better than Morgan Wallen.
There, I said it, and boy, does it feel good to get that off my chest.
This is definitely an unpopular opinion.
In 2022, Wallen broke the Billboard record for the longest Top 10 run for an album by a single artist with his record “Dangerous: The Double Album.”
At the 2020 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, he was named the New Artist of the Year, and at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, he won Top Country Artist, Top Country Male Artist, and Top Country Album.
On the flip side, HARDY hasn’t won many awards.
Instead, he’s done a lot of work writing and co-writing songs for country stars, such as Wallen, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, and Chris Lane. He has also toured with Florida Georgia Line and Wallen and released several albums of his own.
But even though HARDY’s accolades don’t match Wallen’s, I’d argue he’s been able do something that Wallen hasn’t: write songs that are meant to bring people together.
On January 20, 2023, HARDY released a new album entitled “the mockingbird & THE CROW.”
In this double album, he mixes his love for Country with Southern Rock and “the mockingbird” embraces the truly country aspects of HARDY’s voice and songwriting capabilities, whereas “THE CROW” portion leans more toward the rock side.
The album is full of great songs, including “red (featuring Morgan Wallen),” “i in country,” and “I AIN’T IN THE COUNTRY NO MORE.” But the song that really seals the deal for me is the last track on the album called “THE REDNECK SONG.”
The first time I heard the song was around 1 a.m. on January 20. I was lying in my bed in the dark, trying not to fall asleep until I had listened to every single track on the album. Then through my phone speaker came the lyrics:
Bisquick on the cast iron
Dip spit on my collar
I’m podunk proud and
I’ll shout it so loud
You can hear it way down in the holler
I’m a redneck
I’m a redneck
I’ll carve it in a cottonwood tree
With my redneck knife
Yeah, the redneck life is the only life for me
I instantly sat up in my bed. This was it! This was the HARDY that I had fallen in love with. As soon as the song was over, I put my phone down and clapped. I was all alone, and nobody, not even HARDY himself, was going to hear my praise. But I didn’t care. This song deserved it.
That night made me start thinking about why “THE REDNECK SONG” resonated so deeply with me and why I was moved to do something I had never done before: clap by myself in the dark.
I think it’s the same reason that I love other HARDY songs, such as “REDNECKER,” “UNAPOLOGETICALLY COUNTRY AS HELL,” WHERE YA AT,” and “WHERE TO FIND ME.” These songs are easy to sing at the top of your lungs, which I often do with my dad and sisters, and they have the capability of bringing people, especially rednecks and country people, together.
In fact, they can even bring people together that aren’t rednecks. I’m pretty far from being considered a redneck, but when I listen to “THE REDNECK SONG,” I AM a redneck, at least for the four minutes that it’s playing.
In this age where people are lonelier than ever before, we crave connection. We want to feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves. However, we often get sucked into technology or even just the busyness of our everyday lives, so it can be hard to figure out ways to bond with people.
Our society trains us to look out for ourselves and our own needs and interests when, in fact, one of our main needs is connection. In only the second chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God created a woman because he saw that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. From the beginning of time, people have needed other people.
I believe that HARDY has found a way to bring people together through the power of a mere four minutes of lyrics that are full of redneck humor and fun. Because of HARDY, we can all shout together:
I’m a redneck
I’m a redneck
I’ll carve it in a cottonwood tree
With my redneck knife
Yeah, the redneck life is the only life for me
And for that reason, I would give him the title of “King of the Redneck Anthem.”
— Grace White, Extra Inning Softball correspondent