HARDY’s new album, Quit!! is out now, July 12th on all streaming platforms. Take a listen and read our full review below.

While HARDY has always expertly toed the line between country and rock music, his new album, QUIT!!, out now, is his first full foray into rock. There isn’t much twang or pedal and steel here, the singer-songwriter trading those for heavier guitar riffs, metal screams, and Fred Durst.

Produced by Joey Moi, the Big Loud Records/ Big Loud Rock LP positions HARDY quite differently than his previous offerings. On QUIT!!, he’s no longer a country singer dabbling in rock, but a rock singer who got his start in country. From the spoken word nature of the title track to the driving guitars and screaming choruses of “Psycho,” the album takes listeners on a new and sometimes unexpected ride.

The LA Times previously called HARDY “Nashville’s nü-metal king,” and this thirteen track collection allows him to claim that throne. It’s the follow up to 2023’s The Mockingbird & THE CROW, which featured the mega-hit, “Wait In the Truck,” and still found the singer-songwriter dabbling in both genres. At the time of that release, he told American Songwriter, “There’s always a struggle between do I do the full-on rock thing, or do I keep writing country songs and do the country thing?”

On QUIT!!, he’s doing the “full-on rock thing,” kicking the album off with the Eminem-meets-Linkin-Park-esque title track, which details his journey through the music industry, rising above adversity with a heavy and grinding chorus. “Somebody wrote ‘quit!!’ on a napkin, I took it outta my tip jar laughing,” He proclaims. “Like damn what an a**hole, Man I’m just a flat broke boy with a guitar asking for anybody to pay attention.”

“Rockstar” is an immediate ear worm, laced with tints of early-2000’s pop-punk as he muses about all of the songs with similar themes, musing over the winding path of his career. “Started out with rifles, trucks and huntin’ season,” He sings, tongue-in-cheek. “Now, I got my middle finger up like a kid again.”

“Everybody’s got a song called, “Rockstar” // Runnin’ up the pop charts, talkin’ all the shit they do // I been Houdini with my commas, pissin’ off my momma, gettin’ all these new tattoos // And I ain’t sayin’ that I’m Nickelback, kickin’ it in Cali with today’s who’s-who // Everybody’s got a song called, “Rockstar” // Lately, I been feelin’ like one, so I wrote one too”

“Good Girl Phase” and “PSYCHO” are HARDY at his absolute best, combining clever hooks with unique lyrics. The latter is endlessly catchy and features the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith on the tune about a “bad, bad girl” who is “just going through a good girl phase.” Meanwhile, “Psycho” is a dark promise of what may happen when a relationship ends, the facade dropping and the good guy turning crazy.

“I pray you never go, there’s something you should know // I hope you stay forever ’cause If you ever leave me, // girl, I’ll get a face tattoo // Steal a truck, end up on the six o’clock news // If you say goodbye, hell, I’ll dye my hair // Crash your birthday party in my underwear // Hey, I hope you never have to see the day // But if you ever walk away, well // Everybody you know, everybody I know’s // Gonna know you fell in love with a psycho”

Similarly, the previously-released “Jim Bob” is the album’s heaviest track, embracing the sounds of fiery electronic rock as he tells the tale of a man with some demons in his life. “We all know a Jim Bob,” said HARDY in a statement of the titular character of the wild and roaring track. “That boy’s got some demons, he’s a heathen Put him at a pew, he needs some Jesus now… All I know’s I’m gonna live this redneck life until it kills me.”

Both “I Don’t Miss” and “Happy Hour” are cleverly written mid-tempos, with “I Don’t Miss” providing an anthemic proclamation on the chorus that can easily be imagined as a theme song for athletes, politicians and sports teams. Meanwhile, “Happy Hour” finds him struggling with the title given to day drinking, musing that everyone is sad to be drinking when the sun is still out.

“Orphan” finds him grappling with his place in Nashville, declaring himself “the orphan of this country music town,” while “SOUL4SALE” pairs him with Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst as they admit they’ll sell their souls for success, which builds to a roaring climax. 

While HARDY’s heavier side is on full display on QUIT!!, he still manages to show his softer side on songs like the poignant “WHYBMWL” and “Six Feet Under (Caleigh’s Song).” While the former finds him wondering where someone’s been his whole life, the latter is HARDY at his best, grappling with his own mortality as he struggles with the aftermath of an accident and wondering where things end up.

 “Where do you go when you die? // How do you know when you’re there? // If Heaven’s a moment you wish never ended // Then I’m six feet under somewhere // But I’m six feet under somewhere // I swear to God, I thought I was dead // On the side of the road with glass in my head // Ah, but death ain’t what scared me to death in the end // It was thinking I’d never see you again”

For HARDY, QUIT!! definitely shows a side of the acclaimed singer-songwriter that’s been bubbling just below the surface for years, and while it’s not quite country, it still shows why he’s become one of the genre’s most recognizable stars.

Quit! Track List:

HARDY’s sophomore project, ‘the mockingbird & THE CROW’ is out now, January 20th. Complete with 17 tracks, HARDY cuts the project in two halves, giving fans a half-country, half-rock album. Much like HARDY has continuously proved in his songwriting, each song possesses its own licks of lyrical genius. 

For Country Swag, an immediate standout track on the project is “drink one for me”. Within almost all of HARDY’s songs, each has its own unique story within a story and “drink one for me” is no different. Upon first-listen, HARDY fans may recognize a similar storyline to “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL” off of HARDY’s debut album. While “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL” harps on singing to a lost friend in heaven, “drink one for me” answers from the opposite perspective.

“but if there’s one way to keep my memory alive til the day y’all meet me here // it’s drink one for me // just know I’d be there holdin’ one in the air // if I didn’t have somewhere to be” 

In our recent interview, HARDY confirms that the idea to write a response to “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL” was completely intentional for the project. “Once we had the idea that we wanted to write about somebody dying, we said we should write it from the perspective of the guy that died in “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL.” That was said out loud in the room. That was on purpose.” HARDY tells us. 

While the emotional and sentimental track ties the two stories together, for those dealing with grief of their own, the cleverly written lyrics may help to serve as a form of validation in all of those moments where you can’t help but wish that that person was there with you, drinking a beer. 

Listen to “drink one for me” on HARDY’s brand new album ‘the mockingbird & THE CROW’, out now. Learn more about the project in our full album review here.

Don’t miss HARDY out on the road this winter. ‘The mockingbird & THE CROW’ tour kicks off this week next month and hits New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom on 2/24. For a full list of dates, visit here. 

To keep up with HARDY, follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

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