HARDY is getting very candid about his struggles with anxiety.
The country writer-turned-rocker (along with some of his team) was involved in a very serious accident last year, in which his tour bus ran off the highway going around 70 miles per hour and flipped into the woods.
His tour photographer/videographer and friend Tanner Gallagher shared previously that everyone on the bus was knocked unconscious, and that multiple doctor’s told them it “was a miracle that we survived.”
It was a truly horrific scene, and this past October, Hardy actually had to cancel a couple of shows because of anxiety attacks which left him hospitalized.
Later, he shared that it was all “completely subconscious,” until it wasn’t, and led him to have to cancel the aforementioned shows.
He said a post that it had “taken total control of my life,” and stemmed from trauma he experienced last year when the wreck occurred:
And in a recent episode with iHeartMedia’s God’s Country podcast, Hardy spoke in great detail about what really went down when he canceled the shows, saying that the panic attacks happened during a time when he had taken a break from drinking.
He added that might have somehow contributed to some emotions coming to the surface that he had been able to suppress in some way, even subconsciously.
Hardy explained that he had two separate panic attacks within a week that seemingly came out of nowhere, and he actually thought he was “having a heart attack”:
“I’d taken a break from drinking, which was, I think, had a lot to do with it, cause it, I wasn’t necessarily what you’d say, like, medicating… I’d taken a couple months off, and then, dude, out of nowhere, twice in one week, I had a panic attack for the first time.
It wasn’t induced by anything really, it felt like somebody just like punched me right in the chest, just — I was fine and then I immediately thought that I was having a heart attack.
I credited a lot of that to the wreck and the trauma that came from that….not processing it the right way.”
While all of this unfortunately resulted from a very serious life or death situation, it’s cool to see Hardy using his platform and being so open about something that has clearly affected him so deeply and so many others can relate to.
He also said that, during the time of those canceled shows, he did a three day intensive trauma therapy that helped him realize he was burnt out from spending so much time on the road:
“It was amazing. I did a three day intensive-like trauma therapy thing where it was 18 hours of therapy and over the course of three days.
This was right after canceling the shows. This is why I canceled the shows… through talking about stuff, I was like, I don’t love being on the road all year and playing 80, 90 shows a year.
I started talking about it and, about how much it’s affected me and my mental health and everybody is different.”
While it may be a lighter schedule in terms of going for 12 months straight, Hardy did just announce his QUIT!! tour and drop a new single, indicationg that another album might be on the way in 2024, as well.
Quit!! tour dates:
May 30 – Rogers, Ark. – Walmart AMP ♠*◎
May 31 – St. Louis, Mo. – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre ♠*◎
June 1 – Noblesville, Ind. – Ruoff Music Center ♠*◎
June 6 – Toronto, Ont. – Budweiser Stage ♠*◎
June 7 – Saratoga Springs, N.Y. – Broadview Stage at SPAC ♠*◎
June 8 – Buffalo, N.Y. – Darien Lake Amphitheater ♠*
June 14 – Charlotte, N.C. – PNC Music Pavilion ♠*✭
June 15 – Raleigh, N.C. – Coastal Credit Union Music Park ♠*✭
June 20 – Holmdel, N.J. – PNC Bank Arts Center ♠*✭
June 21 – Mansfield, Mass. – Xfinity Center ♠*✭
June 22 – Gilford, N.H. – BankNH Pavilion ♠*✭
June 27 – Camden, N.J. – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion ♠*✭
June 28 – Bristow, Va. – Jiffy Lube Live ♠*✭
July 25 – Cincinnati, Ohio – Riverbend Music Center ♠*
July 27 – Tinley Park, Ill. – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre ♠*
♠ Kip Moore
* Travis Denning
✭ Ella Langley
◎ Stephen Wilson Jr.
“QUIT!!”
