Music Review: Extra Inning’s Grace White Reviews HARDY’s Latest Album “the mockingbird & THE CROW”

Grace White is a college senior playing first base and studying journalism at Union University, a DII school in Jackson, Tennessee. She writes frequently for Extra Inning Softball, sharing her thoughts on all things on and off the field.

She is also the sports editor for Cardinal & Cream, the school’s student magazine, and has a younger sister who plays in the club organization Virginia Unity.

In today’s Inside Pitch, Grace gives us a music review of HARDY and his latest album “The Mockingbird & THE CROW.”

And what does Grace think of the aforementioned country singer-songwriter? Michael Wilson Hardy who is known professionally as HARDY who has written songs for a variety of singers – by Chris Lane And Blake Shelton To Thomas Ret And Morgan Wallen?

Grace sums it up: “HARDY is the King of the Redneck Anthems!”

Here is her review of The Mockingbird & The CROW…

*****

HARDY is better than Morgan Wallen.

So, I said it, and boy does it feel good to get that off my chest.

This is definitely an unpopular opinion.

In 2022, Wallen broke with his record “Dangerous: The double album.”

At the 2020 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, he was named New Artist of the Yearand at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, he won Top Country Artists, top country artist, And Top Country Album.

On the other hand, HARDY hasn’t won many awards.

Instead, he has done a lot of work writing and co-writing songs for country music stars like Wallen, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett and Chris Lane. He also toured with Florida Georgia Line and Wallen and released several albums of his own.

But while HARDY’s accolades don’t match Wallen’s, I would argue that he was able to do something Wallen couldn’t: write songs meant to bring people together.

On January 20, 2023, HARDY released a new album entitled “the Mockingbird & THE CROW.”

Mixing his love of country with southern rock on this double album, “The Mockingbird” embraces the true country aspects of HARDY’s voice and songwriting skills, while “THE CROW” leans more towards the rock side.

The album is full of great songs including “Red (with Morgan Wallen)”, “me in the country,” And “I AM NO LONGER IN THE COUNTRY.” But the song that really seals the deal for me is the last track on the album called “THE REDNECK SONG.”

I first heard the song around 1am on January 20th. I lay in my bed in the dark, trying not to fall asleep until I had heard every single track on the album. Then the text came through my phone speaker:

Biscuit on the cast iron
Dip spit on my collar
I’m proud and podunk
I’ll scream it so loud
You can hear it far down the holler
I’m a redneck
I’m a redneck
I’ll carve it into a cottonwood tree
With my redneck knife
Yes, the redneck life is the only life for me

I immediately sat up in my bed. That’s it! This was the HARDY I fell in love with. As soon as the song ended, I put my phone down and clapped. I was all alone, and no one, not even HARDY himself, would hear my praise. But I didn’t care. This song deserves it.

That night I started to think about why “THE REDNECK SONG” touched me so deeply and why I was moved to do something I’d never done before: gossip alone in the dark.

I think that’s the same reason I love other HARDY songs like “RENNECKER“, “NO EXCUSES COUNTRY LIKE HELL” WHERE ARE YOU,” And “WHERE TO FIND ME.” These songs are easy to sing at the top of your lungs, which I do often with my father and sisters, and they have the ability to bring people together, especially rednecks and country folk.

In fact, they can even bring people together who aren’t rednecks. I’m pretty far from being considered a redneck, but when I hear “THE REDNECK SONG” I AM a redneck, at least for the four minutes it plays.

In this time when people are lonelier than ever, we long for connection. We want to feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves. However, we often get drawn into technology or even just the busyness of our everyday lives, so finding ways to connect with people can be difficult.

Our society trains us to take care of ourselves and our own needs and interests, although one of our primary needs is connection. Only in the second chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, did God create a woman because he saw that being alone was not good for a man. Since the beginning of time, people have needed other people.

I believe HARDY found a way to bring people together through the power of just four minutes of text full of redneck humor and fun. Because of HARDY we can all shout together:

I’m a redneck
I’m a redneck
I’ll carve it into a cottonwood tree
With my redneck knife
Yes, the redneck life is the only life for me

And for that reason I would give him the title “King of the Redneck Anthem.”

— Grace White, Extra inning softball correspondent