Hardy is a talented artist with several hit singles to his credit. But Hardy (whose real name is Michael Hardy) fell in love with songwriting first, even getting a degree in songwriting from Middle Tennessee State University.
Videos by American Songwriter
Several of country music’s biggest hits in the last several years feature Hardy as a songwriter on them, including these four, which prove he is undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
“God’s Country” by Blake Shelton
Not only did “God’s Country” become a big hit for Blake Shelton, but it also resurrected his career. When Shelton heard “God’s Country”, written by Hardy, Devin Dawson, and Jordan Schmidt, he thought his best days in country music might be behind him.
Shelton’s longtime producer, Scott Hendricks, sent Shelton the song, which he listened to while working on his ranch in Oklahoma. The song says, “I saw the light in a sunrise / Sittin’ back in a 40 on the muddy river side / Gettin’ baptized in holy water and shine with the dogs runnin’ / Saved by the sound of being found / Dixie whistle in the wind, that’ll get you Heaven bound / The devil went down to Georgia but he didn’t stick around / This is God’s country.”
“I literally just couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Shelton recalls (via Country Now). “It was just like an awakening. It was like it reenergized me.”
Shelton had a No. 1 hit in 2019 with “God’s Country”. The song is on his Fully Loaded: God’s Country album.
“Take Her Home” by Kenny Chesney
Hardy wrote “Take Her Home” with Hunter Phelps and Zach Abend. The song, out in 2023, is on Kenny Chesney’s BORN album and became his 33rd No. 1 single. The song is about falling in love and being unafraid of commitment.
“Take Her Home” says, “Take her home, fall in love / Thank the good Lord up above / That He sent one down into your arms / And put a chain around your raise-hell heart / You try to play it cool walking through the door / But you’re smiling like a fool ’cause you can’t wait / For them down-the-road memories you’re bound to make / And you will one day, take her home.”
“When I heard ‘Take Her Home,’ I just laughed,” Chesney says of the song. “It was everything life is made of in less than four minutes. It’s true, honest, and all the stuff that’s easy to forget.”
“Sand In My Boots” by Morgan Wallen
Hardy wrote “Sand In M Boots” with Josh Osborne and Ashley Gorley. The heartbreaking song was released by Morgan Wallen in 2021, as part of Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album.
“Sand In My Boots” is about the regret of not following through after meeting someone on vacation. The song, which gives a nod to Wallen’s own childhood in Sneedville, Tennessee, says, “Yeah but, now I’m dodging potholes in my sunburnt Silverado / Like a heart-broke Desperado, headed right back to my roots / Somethin’ bout the way she kissed me tells me she’d love Eastern Tennessee / Yeah, but all I brought back with me was some sand in my boots.”
“Wait In The Truck” by HARDY and Lainey Wilson
“Wait In The Truck” might be one of the most important songs Hardy has ever written. Hardy wrote the song with Schmidt, Phelps, and Renee Blair. He also released the song, which he sings with Lainey Wilson, in 2022, on his The Mockingbird & The Crow record.
“Wait In The Truck” is about a man who takes matters into his own hands after he encounters a woman who is a victim of domestic violence. In “Wait In The Truck”, Hardy sings the verses, while Wilson sings the chorus, which says, “I don’t know if he’s an angel / ‘Cause angels don’t do what he did / He was hellbent to find the man behind all the whiskey scars I hid / I never thought my day of justice would come from a judge under his seat / But I knew right then I’d never get hit again when he said to me / ‘Wait in the truck / Just wait in the truck.’”
In the video, Hardy is dressed in prison garb.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for American Cancer Society
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