Spreading his wings and soaring to new heights, Big Loud’s genre-bending barrier breaker HARDY earns his hard rock bona fides today with his first ever US rock radio #1, “JACK”.
“I can’t believe it, but ‘JACK’ is the number one song in rock ‘n roll,” HARDY shared on social media last night, celebrating the moment. “Thank you to rock radio for all the love”.
Named one of the 10 Best Songs of 2022 by TIME, “JACK” is “country-meets-hardcore chaos” (Alternative Press), “a stormy, Incubus-influenced answer to the good-natured ‘beer’” (Rolling Stone) from the country half of his chart-topping sophomore album, the mockingbird & THE CROW.
The cross-genre appeal cemented by “JACK” and its claw to the top of rock radio only compounds “HARDY’s Country-Rock Rebellion” (SPIN), a mould-shattering artistic lane all his own, recently highlighted by The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and more. “A performer like HARDY is not a throwback but an infusion of energy”, The New Yorker hails, while Rolling Stone calls it like it is: “HARDY Is a Country Singer Who Just Wants to Rock the F–k Out”.
Last week held “a career-affirming day for HARDY”, (Wide Open Country) as nominations for the 58th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced and the Philadelphia artist-writer came out on top. The reigning ACM, AIMP, and BMI Country Songwriter of the Year earned seven nominations – the most of any artist this year – in categories including Song of the Year, Music Event of the Year, and Visual Media of the Year, all for his Top 5-and-rising Lainey Wilson collaboration, “wait in the truck”, and a nod in the newly-created category of Artist-Songwriter of the Year.
Flying nationwide now, HARDY’s headline US the mockingbird & THE CROW Tour is being met with rave reviews. Of his recent two-night stay at Minneapolis’ The Fillmore, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes: “Showing he’s ready for arenas, HARDY was energetic, enthusiastic, authentic and proudly redneck. He rocked with stout aplomb, crooned country with sing-song cadence and let boisterous fans sing lyrics by themselves, including on deep cuts”.
(Credit: Tanner Gallagher)