Whiskey Riff Song Of The Week: “the mockingbird & THE CROW” By Hardy

Hardy country music

Happy Monday, y’all.

Today for the Song of the Week, we have a tune from HARDY called “the mockingbird & THE CROW,” which is the title track to his forthcoming album that drops this Friday, January 20th.

The concept for the record is that is will be half country and half rock, serving as a blend of the two genres that have shaped Hardy’s love for music and career thus far.

Meaning, the tracklist for this album will literally be split in half, with all the country songs written in lowercase letters, the title track we’re talking about today is also split, and all following rock songs are in uppercase writing.

In a previous post on Instagram, he explained in more detail what it means to him:

“I’ve had this idea for a long time, called ‘the mocking and the crow.’Just about how, the dichotomy between the two, and all my life I’ve always driven down the road and you see like a crow flying through the air and you see a mockingbird, like peckin’ at the crow. And I’ve always wanted to write that idea.

And since this album’s gonna be a half country and half, like rock album, I always wanted it to be a part of this album, and I ended up never writing the song. But I woke up today at like two in the afternoon and Jordan had a rock beat filled out, so I threw this idea out, and I was like, I really think this song could really tie the record together.

So we wrote a song, like a seven minute song today called ‘the mockingbird & THE CROW.’ And the song starts with like ‘mockingbird,’ and how I’m from Mississippi, which the state bird is the mockingbird, and how I’m the crow, and I repeat things that I’ve heard my whole life, and thats part of my songwriter thing and who I am.

And then the song slowly transitions into the crow, which is the rock and roll character that flies his own path, just like as the crow flies and that whole thing, and so we wrote it today.

“the mockingbird & THE CROW” is a neat peak into the Jekyl and Hyde persona he’s using as a concept for the whole project, and you get some insight into how he feels an internal pull between making the music he was raised on in Mississippi, and exploring the rock side of his personality and the other kinds of music he really loves.

While this project won’t be for everyone, I personally love that he’s pushing boundaries in an industry where that feels harder and harder to do, and I think it’s so cool that he’s putting it out on a major label like Big Loud.

I find the whole idea so intriguing and authentic to who he is as an artist and a person, so needless to say, I’m counting down the days to hear the record as a whole.

If you haven’t heard it yet, take a few minutes and give this one a chance:

the mockingbird & THE CROW Track List

1. beer (Michael Hardy, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson, Hunter Phelps)
2. red feat. Morgan Wallen (Michael Hardy, Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip, Jacob Rice)
3. wait in the truck feat. Lainey Wilson (Michael Hardy, Renee Blair, Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt)
4. drink one for me (Michael Hardy, David Garcia, Hunter Phelps)
5. i in country (Michael Hardy, Smith Ahnquist, Nick Donley, Jake Mitchell, Hunter Phelps)
6. screen (Michael Hardy, Jessie Jo Dillon, Matt Dragstrem, Hunter Phelps)
7. happy (Michael Hardy)
8. here lies country music (Michael Hardy, Cole Taylor, Brett Tyler, Will Weatherly)
9. the mockingbird & THE CROW (Michael Hardy, Jordan Schmidt, Brett Tyler)
10. SOLD OUT (Michael Hardy, David Garcia, Hunter Phelps)
11. JACK (Michael Hardy, David Garcia, Hillary Lindsey)
12. TRUCK BED (Michael Hardy, Ashley Gorley, Ben Johnson, Hunter Phelps)
13. .30-06 (Michael Hardy, Cameron Montgomery, Hunter Phelps)
14. I AIN’T IN THE COUNTRY NO MORE (Michael Hardy, David Garcia, Hillary Lindsey)
15. RADIO SONG feat. Jeremy McKinnon (Michael Hardy, Zach Abend, Nick Donley, Jeremy McKinnon, Cody Quistad)
16. KILL SH!T TILL I DIE (Michael Hardy, David Garcia, Hunter Phelps)
17. THE REDNECK SONG (Michael Hardy, Andy Albert, Nick Donley)

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