It’s finally here.
After a week of questions about what exactly they had in store, HARDY has finally dropped his highly-anticipated “McArthur,” a collaboration with Eric Church, Morgan Wallen and Tim McGraw.
We got our first hints about the project on Monday when the artists began posting cryptic graphics featuring various members of the McArthur family. But at the time (when we first posted about it), obviously we had no idea what it was about or who was involved. In fact at the time, we didn’t even know that it was a song: There was speculation going around about everything from a new Taylor Sheridan series to a supergroup to a soundtrack for the next installment of the Red Dead Redemption video game.
Over the next couple of days though, fans located a song in the ASCAP database called “McArthur,” written by HARDY along with Jameson Rodgers, Chase McGill, and Josh Thompson (under his pseudonym “Joshua Dennis Anthony Bagles.”)
And yesterday, HARDY finally confirmed the news and shared a teaser of the new song, “McArthur.”
Well we’re finally getting to hear the song for the first time, and as many guessed, it turns out it is a story about four generations of the McArthur family – though it goes much deeper than that.
Tim McGraw, as hinted at with his teaser, takes on the role of John McArthur, the eldest in the line who farmed the land to keep his family fed.
“My bloodline bled on this ground
Soon we all find that’s where we’re bound
And father time don’t leave anyone out
When you pass on, what you gonna pass down?”
Next comes Eric Church and his character of Junior McArthur, who passed away “by way of a bullet in Vietnam,” leaving behind his son Jones, who he never actually got to meet.
Each of the generations pass down the family land, but the twist comes when HARDY introduces his character, Jones McArthur – whose son doesn’t seem to value the land like the rest in his lineage:
“I’m Jones McArthur and I tried like hell
To teach my son why a man don’t sell
But he came home from college seeing dollar signs
Didn’t want to go to work, just wanted me to die”
The son is, of course, Morgan Wallen telling the story of Hunter McArthur, who’s ready to sign on the dotted line to turn over the family land but appears to have a change of heart at the very end:
“I’m Hunter McArthur and the deal looks good
In 18 months this’ll be a neighborhood
I got a million dollar line I can sign my name on
But there’s a whisper in the pines that’s telling me, ‘Don’t'”
The song ends with a beautiful chorus of the four of them harmonizing, and while it leaves a little bit to the imagination, it’s safe to say that Hunter probably didn’t go through with the sale. (At least I’m sure that’s what everybody is hoping – but that’s the beauty of songwriting: It’s up to interpretation).
It’s such a unique song that really shows off the brilliance of the songwriters involved. While the lesson may be reminiscent of songs like “Dirt Cheap” by Cody Johnson or “This Is My Dirt” by Justin Moore, it’s told in such a new and unique way that we seldom hear in country music.
Check it out – because it’s unlike anything else you’re likely to hear:
If you want to hear more of HARDY’s work as a songwriter, we posted an article just this month about songs you may not realize he’s written, which you can check out here.
