Talk about a full-circle moment.
Outside of Ella Langley’s announcement of her sophomore album, Dandelion, the biggest story dominating the country music world this week was the surprise collaboration between Morgan Wallen, Eric Church, Tim McGraw and HARDY. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the singles’ intriguing rollout, let me catch you up to speed.
During the second of two nights at The Anthem in Washington D.C., Church would tell the crowd that there was a surprise coming on January 30th.
“On January 30, something is going to happen and you’re going to f–king love it.”
Monday rolled around, and the “Springsteen” singer, along with Wallen, McGraw and HARDY, all took to Instagram to upload incredibly similar posts with birth and death dates (save for Wallen) for members of a seemingly fictional McArthur family.
- Tim McGraw – John McArthur, born Nov. 2, 1920 and died Nov. 22, 1963
- Eric Church – Junior McArthur, born Sept. 2, 1945 and died Apr. 4, 1967
- HARDY – Jones McArthur, born June 5, 1968 and died Jan. 5, 2025
- Morgan Wallen – Hunter McArthur, born May 13, 1993
Theories about the deeper meaning of it were flowing in all week, and it quickly became clear that it was going to hold a lot of historical significance. Many of the dates mark very important moments across American history, whether it’s World War II events, a Martin Luther King Jr. speech, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy… you can read much more about that HERE.
Though there were TONS of theories flying around, everything from a concept album to a Taylor Sheridan series to a new installment of the Red Dead Redemption video game, HARDY, who spearheaded the project, put them to rest Thursday by confirming the project (for now) was just a single song.
This morning, the track was released to high praise from fans of the four superstars. Showcasing the group’s strengths, the story follows four generations of the McArthur family and their differing perspectives on their family land, beginning with McGraw’s character before the Vietnam War and ending with Wallen’s character in the present day.
As previously mentioned, “McArthur” has been dominating the news cycle all week, for good reason. It’s not every day that you see a collaboration between four artists of this caliber in the genre, especially considering the fact that Wallen has cemented himself as a global superstar, Church has remained one of the most influential artists of the generation, McGraw has a legacy few artists can dream of and Hardy is one of the hottest songwriters in Nashville right now.
Given the hype surrounding the song, an old Wallen interview all the way back in 2016 with the Springfield, Illinois radio station, 101.9 The Wolf, has begun to resurface online.
Since it was back in 2016, before the release of his debut album, If I Know Me, the “Whiskey Glasses” singer was only 22 at the time and hilariously still rocking his infamous long, center-parted hair at the time. On its surface, it’s a fairly basic, introductory interview to Wallen as an artist, discussing his influences, favorite places to perform, what the genre means to him and more. However, the clip that has been going viral is when he plots his dream festival lineup, which includes some interesting names looking back.
Though he’d list some non-country names, such as Drake (whom he’s formed a friendship with over the years) and the late, great Chris Cornell, out of all the artists in the genre, he’d choose none other than Eric Church and Tim McGraw.
“If I could have a dream lineup show, I mean, hopefully I’m the headliner, I would put Eric Church. Chris Cornell, any band he’s ever been involved with, I really don’t care as long as he’s there singing. I’d probably put Drake there and Tim McGraw.”
Obviously, we already know that his wish to work with Church has come true on more than one occasion, collaborating on both “Man Made a Bar” and “Number 3 and Number 7” along with their Field & Stream venture. However, when you realize that he’s now worked in some capacity with everyone, save for the late Cornell, who tragically took his own life in 2017, it becomes a pretty surreal interview looking back.
Watch the 2016 interview here:
