Five Songs, One Mission: HARDY Reminds Us What 'COUNTRY!' Really Means With New EP – Music Mayhem

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HARDY’s COUNTRY! proves he’s not done being the kind of storyteller that has long defined country music at its core.
By
Melinda Lorge
Melinda Lorge
Melinda Lorge is a Nashville-based freelance writer who specializes in covering country music. Along with Music Mayhem, her work has appeared in publications, including Rare Country, Rolling Stone Country, Nashville Lifestyles Magazine, Wide Open Country and more. After joining Rare Country in early 2016, Lorge was presented with the opportunity to lead coverage on late-night television programs, including “The Voice” and “American Idol,” which helped her to sharpen her writing skills even more. Lorge earned her degree at Middle Tennessee State University, following the completion of five internships within the country music industry. She has an undeniable love for music and entertainment. When she isn’t living and breathing country music, she can be found enjoying time outdoors with family and friends.
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Posted on May 1, 2025
HARDY, Photo Courtesy of Ryan Smith
HARDY will release his brand-new EP entitled COUNTRY! on Friday (May 2). This collection marks the chart-topping country rocker’s first pack of songs since the start of 2025 and finds him returning to his roots with five down-home tracks.
Before sharing the EP in full, fans got a sneak peek into COUNTRY! with two preview tracks, “Buck On The Wall” and “Favorite Country Song,” both of which were released simultaneously. The two tunes serve as the bookends for the project and are personal odes to HARDY’s deer camp, which has become a sentimental place to him, over time, following the passing of his grandfather and the absence of his childhood home that found new ownership.
With three additional tracks — “Car That Drove You Away,” “Girl With A Gun,” and “Luckiest Man Alive” — the 34-year-old Philadelphia, Mississippi native continues to put his pride for his hometown on full display, incorporating the rock sounds that shaped his youth into his music while using his storytelling arm to anchor each track — a talent that has earned him a spot in Nashville’s elite class of songwriters and the title of BMI Country Songwriter of the Year award in 2022. HARDY’s latest collection proves he’s not done being the kind of storyteller that has long defined country music at its core.
Even the EP cover art is country living in its purest form. The COUNTRY! cover art features a nostalgic, grainy snapshot of a young Michael Hardy, just 13, decked out in camo and beaming beside a 10-point buck lying in the bed of a pickup. “This music is a nod to my roots and the cover art is a real newspaper clipping taken from the The Neshoba Democrat over 20 years ago,” HARDY explained in a recent social media post.
“Car That Drove You Away” serves as the second track on Country! On the song, HARDY’s vocals take front and center as he unveils imaginative verses that find him expressing a desire to be with the one he loves. Wishing to go back in time, he compares himself to objects such as a red light so he can stop a girl from going any further, or puts himself in the shoes of a house band she’s listening to so he can play songs that would cut right through her heart.
“I wish I was anything but the fool that I feel like / Anything but the guy that let you say goodbye / ‘Cause I know being me, ain’t gonna bring you back this time,” HARDY sings the song that features a stripped-down melody, gentle acoustics, and twangy guitar riffs, ruminating over what could’ve been had he not let his love interest go.
“Girl With A Gun” finds HARDY promising to stay committed in his relationship, despite the notion that his ladylove is untrusting him when he’s out with his friends. The tune plays out as a letter to his girlfriend, vowing to keep his word as someone with a good head on his shoulders. Sonically, the track leans into the rock influences that shaped HARDY throughout his life, with bright bell-like guitar tones and a mellow melody.
“I never wanna be standing on the front porch at midnight / Staring down the barrel of a .45 / Saying hold on baby think about it first / Before you go and put me six in the dirt / There’s been guys that ran around and found out / That ain’t nothing but a headstone now / Yeah I couldn’t ‘cause I love you and I wouldn’t ‘cause I ain’t that dumb / To cheat on a girl with a gun,” HARDY sings throughout the chorus of the track.
Rounding out the collection is perhaps the most country-leaning track out of all five. “Luckiest Man Alive” features HARDY sharing his gratitude for the simple joys in life, from having a well-working truck to money in his bank account.
“I’m the luckiest man alive / Living out ‘Country Boy Can Survive,’” the ACM award winner and two-time CMA award winner sings over a toe-tapping melody, name-checking Hank Williams Jr’s “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Floating with the breeze like a dandelion / I’m the luckiest man alive / I got it pretty good for a good ole boy / Baby looking all hot damn good lord / Gonna thank Him when I fold my hands tonight / I’m the luckiest man alive (That’s right).”
COUNTRY! is a large departure from HARDY’s recent album 2024’s Quit!, which featured high-octane energy-powered arena rock anthems like “Rockstar” and “Psycho,” and was his full rock album following his half rock-half country debut the mockingbird & THE CROW. The EP finds HARDY returning to his country roots and HARDY’s COUNTRY! release is appropriate timing, as it follows the singer/songwriter’s Grand Ole Opry debut, which occurred April 29. During the milestone moment, HARDY told touching family stories and treated the audience to songs like “Buck On A Wall” and “Wait in the Truck.”
In addition to his fresh EP, HARDY will kick off his JIM BOB World Tour very soon. The headlining trek begins May 22 and runs through September 24, with stops that include New York’s Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, Los Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, and more. Koe Wetzel, Stephen Wilson, Sikarus, Jr., and McCoy Moore, are set to join the tour as openers on select dates.
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Melinda Lorge is a Nashville-based freelance writer who specializes in covering country music. Along with Music Mayhem, her work has appeared in publications, including Rare Country, Rolling Stone Country, Nashville Lifestyles Magazine, Wide Open Country and more. After joining Rare Country in early 2016, Lorge was presented with the opportunity to lead coverage on late-night television programs, including “The Voice” and “American Idol,” which helped her to sharpen her writing skills even more. Lorge earned her degree at Middle Tennessee State University, following the completion of five internships within the country music industry. She has an undeniable love for music and entertainment. When she isn’t living and breathing country music, she can be found enjoying time outdoors with family and friends.
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