There’s a lot to like about HARDY. Mostly, I just like the fact that you’re never entirely sure what he’s going to do next.
Like Zach Bryan, Michael Hardy is pushing at the boundaries of what country music is supposed to be, and what it can become. I love modern country as much as the next man, but there’s something to be said for someone who looks at the established way of doing things and wonders what happens if he tries something else.
The recent “Man In The Box” was a case in point. Naturally, I saw the title and expected an Alice In Chains cover. It wasn’t, although the sprawling, multi-section piece that arrived instead was an intriguing proposition in its own right. Almost a prog affair, its ambition brought to mind the suite-based approach Counting Crows explored on “Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!”.
“SIDES”, though, offers four songs that are a little closer to what you might expect from HARDY. Which still leaves plenty of room for him to surprise you.
“By God” opens proceedings with something approaching gospel in its feel. There’s a sense of conviction about it, and it provides an effective way into a collection that has plenty to say, even when it’s busy making a glorious racket.
“Hell” certainly does that. With Blake Shelton alongside him, HARDY delivers a working-class anthem with dirt under its fingernails. Here’s a bloke punching the clock, giving the middle finger to the boss and driving a truck you suspect he’d have to be dragged out of. Whatever happens, he’s never taking his feet out of the mud.
It’s familiar country territory, perhaps, but the delivery is tremendous. There’s a grungy scratch to the thing as it builds towards a proper hard-rocking chorus. And what a chorus it is. HARDY understands how to make these characters live, but he also understands that sometimes the best way to get their point across is to turn the guitars up.
“King Of The Hill” offers a slightly different perspective. Even where the outlook doesn’t entirely mirror my own, it’s difficult to argue with the idea that the world might be a better place if more people lived by the values being celebrated here. There’s an affection for those people that makes the sentiment feel rooted in something real.
For a man who has written 22 number one singles worldwide, HARDY’s own work remains pleasingly difficult to second-guess. He clearly knows how to write a hit. What makes him compelling is the range of things he chooses to do with that ability.
And then there’s “Tommy Made The News”.
The final track is heartbreaking: a song about a school shooting, the devastation it leaves behind and the dreadful distance between an ordinary morning and a news headline. After the defiance of “Hell”, this is another kind of power entirely. The storytelling is enough.
Four tracks, then, and several sides of a songwriter who seems determined to keep exploring. There’s room here for faith, pride, frustration and terrible grief, and HARDY gives each its own voice.
Whatever comes next in this project, you can be fairly certain it’ll be interesting. “SIDES” is considerably more than that.
Rating: 8.5/10
