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The Mockingbird & the Crow

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The Mockingbird & the Crow
Studio album by
Hardy
ReleasedJanuary 20, 2023 (2023-01-20)
Genre
Length61:14
Label
Producer
Hardy chronology
Hixtape, Vol. 2
(2021) 		The Mockingbird & the Crow
(2023) 		Hixtape, Vol. 3: Difftape
(2024)
Singles from The Mockingbird & the Crow
  1. "Wait in the Truck"
    Released: August 29, 2022[4]
  2. "Jack"
    Released: October 18, 2022[5]
  3. "The Mockingbird & the Crow"
    Released: January 2023
  4. "Truck Bed"
    Released: May 15, 2023
  5. "Sold Out"
    Released: May 23, 2023

The Mockingbird & the Crow (styled as the mockingbird & THE CROW) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Hardy. It was released on January 20, 2023, through Big Loud Records. The album features a mix of country music and hard rock music. Hardy co-wrote all seventeen songs on the project and co-produced with Joey Moi and Derek Wells. "Wait in the Truck", a duet with Lainey Wilson, is the album's first single. While receiving mixed reviews from music critics, the album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with 55,000 album-equivalent units, making it Hardy's highest-charting album.[1]

Content

[edit]

Hardy first announced the release of the album on October 10, 2022. He told the blog Taste of Country that he intended to include influences of both country music and rock music on the project, and that he considered the songs on the project among the best he had written. Prior to the album's release in 2023, Hardy released the lead single "Wait in the Truck", a duet with Lainey Wilson. Also released prior to the project were "Sold Out", "Truck Bed", "Here Lies Country Music", and the title track.[6] Other tracks on the project feature vocals from Morgan Wallen and Jeremy McKinnon. Dan Hyman of Spin noted influences of both country and hard rock in the album's sound.[7]

The closing track is a ballad titled "The Redneck Song" which is a Halloween pirate metal sea shanty with redneck lifestyle-related lyrics and is a spoof on "The Pirate Song" by The Beatles. It also references a few elements from the theme park ride Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland, as well as the song Dead Man's Chest from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Bobby Moore of the blog Wide Open Country noted themes of alcohol consumption and deconstruction of country music clichés in the first half of the album's tracks, particularly in "Red" and "I in Country". Moore also thought the title track showed influences of nu metal and marked the transitional point between country and rock sounds on the album.[8] Hardy wrote every song on the album, in addition to co-producing with Joey Moi and Derek Wells. David Garcia, Jordan Schmidt, Ben Johnson, Andrew Wade, Jeremy McKinnon, and Cody Quistad also produced individual tracks.[9]

Critical reception

[edit]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album two stars out of five, as he thought the more country music influenced tracks on the first half sounded more like Southern rock and Kid Rock than country music, while also noting "cliché" lyrics in several tracks and comparing the more rock-influenced tracks unfavorably to nu metal.[10] Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop was more negative in his assessment, saying the album reduces the country genre to its "dumbest, lowest, common denominator elements",[11] and would later rank the album as the third worst of 2023.[12]

Track listing

[edit]
The Mockingbird & the Crow track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beer"
3:12
2."Red" (featuring Morgan Wallen)
3:26
3."Wait in the Truck" (featuring Lainey Wilson)
4:38
4."Drink One for Me"
3:32
5."I in Country"
  • Hardy
  • Smith Ahnquist
  • Nick Donley
  • Jake Mitchell
  • Phelps
3:49
6."Screen"
3:48
7."Happy"Hardy3:57
8."Here Lies Country Music"
  • Hardy
  • Cole Taylor
  • Brett Tyler
  • Will Weatherly
3:41
9."The Mockingbird & the Crow"
  • Hardy
  • Schmidt
  • Tyler
5:06
10."Sold Out"
  • Hardy
  • Garcia
  • Phelps
3:23
11."Jack"
2:49
12."Truck Bed"
  • Hardy
  • Gorley
  • Johnson
  • Phelps
2:48
13.".30-06"
  • Hardy
  • Cameron Montgomery
  • Phelps
  • Rich
2:21
14."I Ain't in the Country No More"
  • Hardy
  • Garcia
  • Lindsey
4:15
15."Radio Song" (featuring Jeremy McKinnon)
  • Hardy
  • Zach Abend
  • Nick Donley
  • McKinnon
  • Cody Quistad
3:08
16."Kill Shit Till I Die"
  • Hardy
  • Garcia
  • Phelps
3:25
17."The Redneck Song"
3:56
Total length:61:14

Notes

  • Tracks 1–8 stylized in all lowercase; track 9 stylized as "the mockingbird & THE CROW"; tracks 10–15 and 17 stylized in all caps; track 16 stylized as "KILL SH!T TILL I DIE".

Charts

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Wood, Mikael (February 16, 2023). "How country hitmaker Hardy became Nashville's nü-metal king". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. ^ "Album Review – HARDY's "the mockingbird & THE CROW"". Savingcountrymusic. January 24, 2023.
  3. ^ "the mockingbird & THE CROW, Album by Hardy". Spotify. January 20, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  4. ^ "Future Releases for Country Radio Stations". All Access. Archived from the original on August 29, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Rock Future Releases". All Access. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ Carena Liptak (October 10, 2022). "Hardy announces second album The Mockingbird & the Crow, drops three new songs". Taste of Country. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  7. ^ "Hardy's Country-Rock Rebellion". Spin. January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  8. ^ Bobby Moore (January 23, 2023). "'The Mockingbird and The Crow': a Track-by-Track Guide to Hardy's Country-Metal Odyssey". Wide Open Country. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  9. ^ "HARDY flies high with the mockingbird & THE CROW". Country Standard Time. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  10. ^ "The Mockingbird & the Crow review". AllMusic. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  11. ^ Fantano, Anthony (February 12, 2023). "Hardy's the mockingbird & THE CROW is NOT GOOD!". YouTube.
  12. ^ Fantano, Anthony (December 22, 2023). "Worst Albums of 2023". YouTube.
  13. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 30 January 2023". The ARIA Report. No. 1717. Australian Recording Industry Association. January 30, 2023. p. 6.
  14. ^ "ARIA Top 40 Country Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  15. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  16. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  17. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  18. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  19. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Top Hard Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  20. ^ "Hardy Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  21. ^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2023". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  22. ^ "Independent Albums – Year-End 2023". Billboard. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  23. ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2023". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
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