When I first saw Hardy’s name pop up, I do what I always do when it’s someone I’m not familiar with; I do my homework and research. Imagine my surprise to find everything about him listed as country, including several awards that came with his first album.

But if you read his bio on his website, you’ll see the statement, “Big Loud Records’ heavy hitter HARDY has never been just one thing.” And thanks to his single “Jack”, he’s proving that to be true.

Much like Jelly Roll crossing from hick hop, to rock to country (the dude just scored a number one song on country radio!), Hardy has taken his songwriting skills and crossed from country into rock with his ode to everyone’s favorite Tennessee whiskey.

“Jack” takes us all on a journey we’ve all experienced, bringing back that late 90s, early 2000s party rock vibe. In fact, I get a bit of Puddle of Mudd vibe in the tune and the more I hear it the more I like.

He just dropped his new album, The Mockingbird & The Crow on January 20th and I was excited to check it out, curious to know how much country, how much rock was housed in the 17 tracks. Most of it is indeed country, especially with topics likes, booze, bucks and pickup trucks are all covered.

Aside from “Jack”, there’s a couple of other tracks that do indeed rock. The opening track of “Beer”, track 10, “Sold Out”, which give a little of the Kid Rock when he’s doing rock vibe; “.30-06”, which I can hear crossing over to Top 40; and track 16, “Kill Shit Till I Die”, which is not only country, but goes full metal before it’s all over.

Even if you’re not a big fan of country, I recommend giving The Mockingbird & The Crow a spin. You just might surprise yourself to how quickly you will find your feet tapping and likely singing along.