HARDY is currently celebrating the fastest-rising single of his career with “wait in the truck,” his collaboration with Lainey Wilson. The song, from his forthcoming the mockingbird & The Crow album, was written by HARDY, along with Renee Blair, Hunter Phelps and Jordan Schmidt. Although the song is a powerful statement about domestic violence, it began from a much less ominous situation with HARDY’s now-wife, Caleigh.
“There was a guy that made a really big pass at Caleigh at a Halloween party,” HARDY recalls to Everything Nash and other outlets at a recent media event. “She told him she was happily [dating] at that time. The guy was pretty persistent. I was actually in Atlanta playing a show, but she told me about it and I got really fired up, and I made a comment about waiting the truck. Like, I wish I knew where he lived so I could tell Caleigh to wait in the truck.”
Although HARDY wasn’t serious about the comment, when he shared the story with Phelps, they knew right away they had an idea for a song.
“The more we talked about the idea with, the more we kind of thought it would be cool to write like a murder ballad, and really dig into that story and see how, how crazy of a story we can write,” HARDY remembers. “And so that’s exactly what we ended up doing. Jordan sent us the demo that night, and there was no question. I said, ‘This is not getting sent to anybody. I’m cutting the song for my record.'”
Once HARDY heard the demo, he knew he needed a powerful female voice to join him on the track, and his first thought was Wilson.
“Some names got passed around and talked about, on the business side of things,” HARDY says. “But Lainey — and this might not sound the right — but she is that person. She is a country girl, and her voice is so authentic. And so when she sings that, and when she shares that lyric, I believe every single word of that. And I knew that, before I even asked her if she wanted to be a part of it. I knew that Lainey would be the one that everybody would believe. And when you believe it, you’re convicted. And her voice, it was always gonna be heard. She said yes, and we haven’t looked back since then. It’s been awesome.”
the mockingbird & THE CROW will be available on January 20. HARDY will spend part of next year serving as the opening act on Morgan Wallen‘s One Night At A Time World Tour. Find music and tour dates at HardyOfficial.com.