HARDY refuses to 'QUIT' with new single, short film, 2024 tour announcement
Singer-songwriter HARDY once found a napkin with the word "quit" on it in his tip jar after a Nashville writers round almost a decade ago.
The countrified rock star told that story when he was named the Academy of Country Music's 2022 songwriter of the year.
"Tonight, that 'quit' napkin will be sitting right beside this f***er," a defiant HARDY said on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville that evening.
Now the napkin has inspired a new single, documentary and tour.
'QUIT!!'
"QUIT!!," the song that arrived at midnight EST on Jan. 12, is his first release since 2023 album "the mockingbird AND THE CROW."
In a year when he told The Tennessean he would "leave it all on that stage and change the trajectory of [his] life," he did just that.
"QUIT!!" is the most unapologetically rock-inspired song in a catalog of almost 20 No. 1 country and rock songs HARDY has either performed himself or written for another artist in the past five years.
The distortion-laden, rap-rock-style single serves as a three-minute humble brag-as-creative declaration of HARDY's perceived "black sheep" with "a chip on [his] shoulder" emergence.
Five years have transpired since HARDY was a Middle Tennessee State University grad co-writing Morgan Wallen and Florida Georgia Line's 2018 hit "Up Down." He's now filled arenas and performed in front of over 3 million fans worldwide in 2023.
With "QUIT!!," HARDY's road from being an "unapologetically country as hell" performer to a "petty, [glorified redneck] with a stack of awards on a napkin" is a story told flatly that resonates with his growing fanbase and beyond.
Can HARDY mirror Guns N' Roses' success?
The 22-minute "becoming THE CROW" short film directed by Justin Clough that accompanies the release of "QUIT!!" celebrates the moment when HARDY's dynamic vision of writing country-influenced lyrics over rock-style riffs and playing with "bright and dark" emotions and moods took their fullest shape.
Where was that, exactly? Los Angeles' Sunset Strip.
On Jan. 23, 2023, HARDY played the country-inspired "mockingbird" half of "the mockingbird AND THE CROW" at Los Angeles' Troubadour, then immediately followed that set by playing the heavy metal-powered "THE CROW" at the Roxy, a two-minute drive away.
He's attempting to follow an incredible precedent.
In 1986, Guns n' Roses played the Roxy on Jan. 18, The Troubadour on Feb. 28 and revisited The Roxy on March 26. By January 1987, the band, who signed to Geffen Records between their January and February shows, were recording their 1987 debut album "Appetite For Destruction."
By August 1988, the album, which features "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Paradise City," had peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart — a chart on which the album remained for nearly five years. In the past 35 years, the album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and is one of the top-10-selling albums of all time in the United States.
"The mockingbird AND THE CROW" featured Lainey Wilson collaboration "wait in the truck," "jack," Morgan Wallen duet "red," "SOLD OUT," "The Mockingbird & The Crow" and "TRUCK BED."
"If you want to know who I am, listen to that album...may it live forever," Hardy said.
HARDY in 2024
After opening for Morgan Wallen and co-headlining with Lainey Wilson, HARDY's set to return on the road this year with his Quit Tour.
Tickets for 15 dates between May and August go on sale Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. local time, with select fan pre-sales starting Jan. 16.
Supporting acts will include Travis Denning, Ella Langley, Kip Moore and Stephen Wilson Jr.
More information is available at hardyofficial.com/quittour.
About his year to come, HARDY said the following in a press statement: "Thank you for inspiring me to be great. I guess sometimes holding a grudge is a good thing."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: HARDY refuses to 'QUIT' with single, 2024 tour announcement
