HARDY refuses to 'QUIT' with new single, short film, 2024 tour announcement
Sixteen months after telling a capacity crowd at downtown Nashville's Ryman Auditorium that he'd become the Academy of Country Music's 2022 Songwriter of the Year after performing at a Nashville songwriter's round in 2015 and seeing a napkin with the word "quit" on it sitting in his tip jar, Big Loud-signed, countrified rock star singer-songwriter HARDY — via a new single, video documentary and 2024 tour announcement — is showing that, just like a popular Michael Jordan internet meme, that moment impacted him personally, in a career evolving manner.
"Tonight, that 'quit' napkin will be sitting right beside this f***er," stated a defiant HARDY on the Ryman's stage that evening.
"QUIT!!"
"QUIT!!," the song that arrived at midnight EST on Jan. 12, is his first release since 2023's release of his multiple-chart-topping and global top-10 album "the mockingbird AND THE CROW."
In a year that he told The Tennessean in a feature would be one where 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-aimed 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 half-decade.
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" to being an arena-filling artist who played concerts in front of over 3 million fans worldwide in 2023.
Via "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-type success?
As well, the 22-minute, Justin Clough-directed "becoming THE CROW" short film that accompanies "QUIT!!"'s release celebrates the moment wherein 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.
Insofar as the potential for HARDY's future success as portended by the bold move, 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 Mar. 26. By January 1987, the band, who signed to Geffen Records between their January and February shows, were recording their July 1987-released 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 number one on the US 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-ten-selling albums of all time in the United States.
Of an album that features multiple award-winning Lainey Wilson collaboration, "wait in the truck" alongside top-40 hits "jack," "KILL SH!T TILL I DIE," Morgan Wallen duet "red," "SOLD OUT," "The Mockingbird & The Crow" and "TRUCK BED," HARDY noted, "If you want to know who I am, listen to that album...may it live forever."
HARDY in 2024
After playing for 3 million fans touring both as an opener for Morgan Wallen plus on his headlining billings with Lainey Wilson, HARDY's set to return on the road for 2024.
Tickets for 15 announced dates nationwide between May and August 2024 go on sale on Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. local time, with select fan pre-sales starting Jan. 16.
HARDY's 2024 tour supporting acts 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 adds the following via 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
