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HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE Featuring HARDY & Famous Friends

HARDY and friends honor Joe Diffie in the brand new collaborative album, HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE, out now on, March 29th. Listen to the new songs here!

HARDY is the most in-demand songwriter in Nashville and is slowly becoming one of the most popular recording artists as well. However, his flourishing singing career has not stopped him from continuing the fan favorite HIXTAPE series. HIXTAPE started out as a 10-track project curated by HARDY in 2019 (before his debut album, A Rock) that featured 18 artists. Vol. 1 produced the chart topper, “One Beer” with Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson. Vol. 2 took it up a notch, containing 14 tracks with 33 features. Vol. 3 took a different route, paying tribute to the late Joe Diffie on the fourth anniversary of his passing. The album contains 17 songs, all Diffie covers, including one unreleased track. The record was produced by Joey Moi.

The project came about at the CMA Awards when rap/pop star Post Malone joined HARDY and Morgan Wallen on stage to perform Diffie’s “John Deere Green” and “Pickup Man” as an homage to the GRAMMY and CMA Award-winning country star. Both songs charted in the top-5 with the latter spending five weeks at number one between 1994-1995. 

Aside from those two songs, the project contains other number one hits such as “Home,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Third Rock from the Sun,” and “Bigger Than The Beatles.” First-time HIXTAPE features include legends such as Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, and the late Toby Keith. Rising country stars include Kameron Marlowe, Nate Smith, Lauren Watkins, and Larry Fleet. While HARDY played more of a supporting role on the record, only providing his vocals for three tracks, he got to sing the chorus on the unreleased song “Life Had Plans For Me,” alongside Diffie and his son, Parker. The tune tells the tale of someone whose plans of becoming a football star were halted when he received the news that he was going to be a dad. Listen to the reflective, heart-warming story below!

“When something more important comes along // And you’re forced to give up // What you’ve been workin’ toward // Waitin’ for, chasin’, slavin’, cravin’, and prayin’ for // The chance to live your dreams // He said I had plans for life // Oh but life had plans for me”

“As someone who had the profound privilege of performing alongside my father, it fills my heart with immense joy to witness his enduring legacy continued with the same passion and fervor that he embodied,” Parker Diffie shared in a recent press release. “The release of HIXTAPE: Vol. 3: DIFFTAPE is an opportunity to not only celebrate the past but also to embrace the future with reverence and enthusiasm.”

Finding artists for this record must have been an easy task for HARDY and Big Loud. Diffie will always be remembered as an icon who transcended the genre in the 90s. We could imagine, it would be an honor to cover one of Diffie’s hits and be a part of such a memorable project. 

HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE. Track List:

  1. John Deere Green (Joe Diffie, Morgan Wallen & HARDY)
  2. Pickup Man (Joe Diffie, Post Malone)
  3. Ships That Don’t Come In (Joe Diffie, Toby Keith & Luke Combs)
  4. Third Rock From The Sun (Joe Diffie, Blake Shelton, HARDY & Brooks & Dunn)
  5. Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die) (Joe Diffie, Tracy Lawrence, Lainey Wilson & The Difftones)
  6. Bigger Than The Beatles (Joe Diffie, Jon Pardi & Old Dominion)
  7. Honky Tonk Attitude (Joe Diffie, Luke Bryan & Randy Houser)
  8. Is It Cold In Here (Joe Diffie, Reba McEntire & Jake Worthington)
  9. Texas Size Heartache (Joe Diffie, Clint Black & Larry Fleet)
  10. Home (Joe Diffie, Darius Rucker & Hailey Whitters)
  11. C-O-U-N-T-R-Y (Joe Diffie, Aaron Tippin & ERNEST)
  12. So Help Me Girl (Joe Diffie, Mark Wills & Nate Smith)
  13. New Way (To Light Up An Old Flame) (Joe Diffie, Randall King & Sammy Kershaw)
  14. If The Devil Danced In Empty Pockets (Joe Diffie, Jack Ingram & Koe Wetzel)
  15. A Night To Remember (Joe Diffie, Lauren Watkins & Kameron Marlowe)
  16. In Another World (Joe Diffie, Chris Young)
  17. Life Had Plans For Me (Joe Diffie, HARDY & Parker Diffie)
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HARDY shares HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE, out now on all streaming platforms.

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements.

HIXTAPE VOL. 3: DIFFTAPE  is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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HARDY Collabs with Morgan Wallen & Chris Shiflett on New Song “Goin’ Nowhere”

HARDY collaborates with Morgan Wallen and Chris Shiflett on final new HIXTAPE song, “Goin’ Nowhere,” out now, December 10th. Listen to the new song here.

In the final track off the incredible record HIXTAPE VOL 2., HARDY collaborates with his label-mate and friend, Morgan Wallen and the Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett. The new song, “Goin’ Nowhere” is a true-blue country song. It is the perfect tune to close out an incredible project of music and collaborations.

The song begins with a verse sung by HARDY. The singer-songwriter loves his small-town roots. Wallen lends his voice to the second verse, furthering the notion that these men are made for the small-town stoplights and stars in the sky. Of course, throughout the entire song, the hard-rock nature is on full-display. Shiflett’s guitar solo is also a prominent feature.

“‘Cause I’m stuck in this town in my truck riding ’round with a plus of log cut in my lip // You’d have to cut the whole tree down // Can’t rip these roots out the ground ain’t getting out and I don’t care // ‘Cause why in the hell would I leave // I don’t need anything but fried chicken and crickets”

There is nothing quite like a HARDY and Wallen collab. Fans can catch the two on stage next year during The Dangerous Tour. Find all the information here.

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HARDY collaborates with Morgan Wallen and Chris Shiflett on “Goin’ Nowhere,” out now.

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news about upcoming HARDY and Morgan Wallen announcements and releases.

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

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

“Goin’ Nowhere” is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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HIXTAPE VOL 2. Featuring HARDY & Famous Friends

HIXTAPE VOL 1. was one of our favorite albums of 2019, but HIXTAPE VOL. 2 is truly giving it a run for its money. Learn more about the project below.

While volume one of HIXTAPE featured HARDY collaborating with guest artists on each and every song, the new installment of the project showcases the singer-songwriter sharing the spotlight with dozens of other artists teaming up on each individual track. Since Friday, September 10th, HARDY and his team have released one song a week off the one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Songs like “Hometown Boys,” (Matt Stell, Dierks Bentley & HARDY) “Beer Song,” (Lainey Wilson, Chase Rice & Granger Smith) and “Small Town On It” (Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery) have already won over fans.

However, the most highly anticipated song is slated to come out at the end of this week, Friday, December 10th, closing out the stellar project. HARDY collaborates with label-mate Morgan Wallen and Chris Shiflett on a sure to be smash hit!

Check out the full track-list of the fourteen songs below.

HIXTAPE VOL. 2. Track List:

  1. Home Town Boys (feat. Matt Stell, Dierks Bentley & Hardy)
  2. WD-40 4WD (feat. Sean Stemaly, Jimmie Allen & Justin Moore)
  3. In Love With My Problems (feat. Larry Fleet & Jon Pardi)
  4. To Hank (feat. Hardy, Brantley Gilbert & Colt Ford)
  5. Small Town On It (feat. Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery)
  6. Break our Own Damn Heart (feat. Midland & Marty Stuart)
  7. Drink Up (feat. Lee Brice, Randy Houser & Hardy)
  8. Jonesin’ (feat. Ronnie Dunn, Jake Owen & Jake Worthington)
  9. Red Dirt Clouds (feat. David Lee Murphy, Ben Burgess & Ernest)
  10. Beer With My Buddies (feat. Hardy, Josh Thompson & Travis Denning)
  11. One Of Ya’ll (feat. Hardy, Rhett Akins & The Cadillac Three)
  12. I Smoke Weed (feat. Ashland Craft & Brothers Osborne)
  13. Beer Song (feat. Lainey Wilson, Chase Rice & Granger Smith)
  14. Goin’ Nowhere (feat. Hardy, Morgan Wallen & Chris Shiflett)
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HIXTAPE VOL. 2 features HARDY and famous friends on twelve original tracks.

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements.

HIXTAPE VOL. 2  is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

hixtape-vol-2-hardy-morgan-wallen

Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery Collaborate on New HIXTAPE Song

Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery collaborate on new HIXTAPE song “Small Town On It,” out today, October 8th, on all streaming platforms. Learn more about the brand new track below.

As promised, the mastermind behind ‘HIXTAPE,’ HARDY, and his incredible team of musicians are pumping out release after release. Today’s star-studded collaboration combined the likes of Chris Lane and Scotty McCreery. The twosome released the next single off of the upcoming record, a song titled “Small Town On It.”

The brand new track is as country as country gets. Lane brings some edge to the track, while McCreery keeps the song grounded in country roots. The unexpected pairing works perfectly. Each singer takes a turn singing a verse, while the two collab on the the jam-worthy chorus.

“A little rust on the fender // A little dirt on them boots //A little moon on the river // A little rain on the roof // My Friday nights, my nowhere drives // My rowdy side, just got one life // Hey ask me how I want it // And I’ll say I’ll take a little small town on it”

While volume one of HIXTAPE featured HARDY collaborating with guest artists on each and every song, the new installment of the project showcases the singer-songwriter sharing the spotlight with dozens of other artists teaming up on each individual track. “Small Town On It” is a song that was definitely made for this project, and it might be our favorite so far!

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Chris Lane and Scotty McCreery collaborate on new HIXTAPE song “Small Town On It,” out now.

Fans can join our Weekly Round-Up e-newsletter here, for the latest in country music and more news and announcements about future Chris Lane & Scotty McCreery releases.

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

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

“Small Town On It” is available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released tunes on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

NYCS First Impression: HARDY Hixtape Vol. 1

HARDY HIxtape

HARDY is already an established songwriter in Nashville, but he’s surely becoming one of country music’s favorite new artists. He just wrapped up his opening gig on Florida Georgia Line’s headlining tour, just in time to gear up for his own tour. The recording artist continues to keep fans on the edge of their seats with his own music, and his newest project Hixtape VOL. 1 is no exception. Filled will star-studded collaborations, the album is truly a breath of fresh air.

On each of the ten tracks, HARDY had a little help from his friends, collaborating with a total of seventeen artists, who span the country music genre. From Joe Diffie to Keith Urban to Lauren Alaina to heavy-metal legend, Zakk Wylde, HARDY covers the whole spectrum, delivering a record for every kind of country music lover.

Beginning with the countrified track, “Boy From The South,” HARDY leans on Cole Swindell and Dustin Lynch to lend their vocals to the song. He somehow manages to intertwine all the country boy stereotypes into refreshing and rhythm lyrics. The song feels easy, yet packs a punch that fans will definitely appreciate. Keeping with a similar theme, HARDY continues to lament about country living in “Redneck Tendencies” with Trace Adkins and Joe Diffie. Though similar in spirit, the song has a much softer arrangement but is just as enticing.

“Can’t nobody tell me what I’m going to do / Yeah mama tried to raise me right / But she couldn’t raise a hell out of me / I told her rednecks tend to have some redneck tendencies.”

On the contrary, “He Went to Jared” has a more in your face arrangement. Featuring Morgan Wallen, the singer and HARDY trade verses, singing about their experiences losing their perspective girls to a clean-cut guy. The track, as well as, “Nothing Out Here” with Thomas Rhett, was one of the two songs that were released prior to the record, and it has already made a splash on the charts. HARDY collaborates with Wallen yet again in “Turn You Down,” which also features killer guitar skills from Ozzy Osborne’s guitarist, Zakk Wylde. The song has an undeniable charm that makes it nearly impossible to turn it off.

“When you turn me on, I just can’t turn you down / Like a damn good time.”

HARDY honors his Mississippi roots in most of the tracks off the record, but it is especially prevalent in “My Kinda Livin,” “What They Make Backroads For,” and “No Place Like Hometown.” In “My Kinda Livin,” the Mississippi native enlists help from his friends, Hunter Phelps and Jameson Rodgers. The trio pay tribute to rural living in the perfectly crafted mellow tune. Each singer takes a verse, causally expressing how “less busy, more laid back” is their “kinda livin’.”

HARDY, Tracy Lawrence, and Jake Owen also sing about the highs of good ole’ country living in “What They Make Backroads For,” while Keith Urban and Hillary Lindsay help sing praises for his hometown in the edgy “No Place Like Hometown.”

The next song off the record has arguably the most unique sound out of the ten. “Something A Lil Stronger” hooks you right away with the first lyric, “I’m just a good time junkie / always leaving the things that love me / wish I could make it last just a little longer / but I keep looking for something a lil stronger.” Swag session alum, Mitchell Tenpenny and Jon Langston combine their talents with HARDY in this refreshing new track.

Closing out the record, HARDY chooses to show off his vocals and softer side in “One Beer,” a collaboration with fellow “God’s Country,” songwriter, Devin Dawson and songstress Lauren Alaina. Quite possibly the most surprising combination of voices, it may be the most poignant track off the impressive collection of songs. The three singers lament about how so much in life and love can start with just a beer, singing “ain’t it funny what one beer can turn into.”

Overall this record is a perfect interpretation of who HARDY is an artist and as a human. He’s managed to deliver an innovative project, where each and every song could possibly work as a single. Clearly, he is just as loved as he is respected amongst his country music family, and we can’t wait to see what collaborations he has in the works for the next installment.

Take a look back at our interview with HARDY earlier this summer where he talks about his transition from songwriter to artist.

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

Hixtape VOL. 1 is now available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

 

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HARDY Drops Two New Songs On His ‘Hixtape Volume 1’

HARDY HIXTAPE

Songwriter turned solo artist, HARDY has written many hit songs for artists in the industry, including Morgan Wallen, Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, and Chris Lane. If you didn’t know his name then, you certainly do now! Between debuting his EP Where to Find Me, to releasing his first radio single “Rednecker,” and being named a VEVO DSCVR Artist to Watch, HARDY is proving that he is the real deal. Most recently(9/6), he released two songs, “Nothing Out Here” and “He Went to Jared” off his new project Hixtape Volume 1 set to be released on September 13th.

The new record appears to be full of collaborations with other country artists. The song art showcasing HARDY with shadowed outlines of other artists and a clear image of the singer being featured on the track only adds to that theory. This week, he released “Nothing Out Here” with Thomas Rhett and “He Went to Jared” with Morgan Wallen.

Although both songs are fun and upbeat, the first track focuses on the pride that HARDY has for his rural upbringing. The Mississippi native proudly sings about all the stereotypes put on people, who are from “the sticks.” It’s definitely an anthem for being unapologetically you and proudly representing where you come from. Rhett adds a surprising element to the already lyrical and sonically enticing tune. The two vocalists combine their sounds for a catchy new one that you will for sure add to your playlist.

“All you’re gonna find windin’ through the country / Is some middle-of-nowhere folks / Makin’ something outta nothin’ out here”

HARDY draws inspiration from his good-ole-boy roots yet again in his collaboration with Wallen, “He Went to Jared.” The two singers are best friends and spent this past year touring together on both FGL’s ‘Can’t Say I Ain’t Country’ Tour and Wallen’s own headlining tour, garnering a similar, yet supportive fanbase. Co-written together with Chase McGill, the song is a complete jam. The duo trade verses, singing about their own experiences losing their love to a clean-cut man. They make comparisons about the stark differences between themselves and the new man, adding that they “ain’t into girls into guys like that.”

“Thinkin’ about him there with a white horse and carriage / Nearly three karats, he went to Jared / I went to the bar / Yeah, I went to the bar.”

To learn more about HARDY and his blossoming music career, check out our exclusive interview with him, just before he played for New York country fans at Jones Beach back in July, alongside FGL, Dan + Shay, and Morgan Wallen.

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

“Nothing Out Here” and “He Went to Jared” are now available everywhere you buy or stream music. Take a listen below and check out more new recently released music here on our ‘New Country Music’ playlist. Be sure to give the playlist a follow for your weekly new country music fix.

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Thank You for supporting Country Music in NYC & Beyond!

Subscribe to our Weekly Round-Up here 
for ticket giveaways, meet & greet contests, upcoming events,
and all things country music in the New York metro area and beyond!

+ Follow our country music adventures on InstagramTwitter & Facebook: