Way less pressure when you’re cranking out hits consistently. Regardless of your thoughts on his output as a whole, it’s becoming increasingly clear that HARDY has become one of the most interesting figures in all of Nashville over the years. As an artist, he’s experienced some great success, recently scoring a #1 on country radio with “Favorite Country Song.” Additionally, he’s scored #1 hits with the likes of 2020’s “ONE BEER” (feat. Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson) and 2023’s “TRUCK BED.” Of course, that’s not even mentioning sleeper hits such as the Lainey Wilson collaboration, “wait in the truck,” and other Top 40 tracks, “Rednecker” and “GIVE HEAVEN SOME HELL.” Though his success as a solo artist shouldn’t be ignored, it’s fairly safe to say that HARDY has scored the most success in his career as a songwriter. At this point, the Mississippi native is best-known for being a frequent collaborator with Morgan Wallen, penning hits such as “Up Down,” “Sand in My Boots,” “More Than My Hometown,” “7 Summers” and “I’m A Little Crazy.” Beyond Wallen, however, he’s also written a plethora of other smash hits for other country artists, ranging from Florida Georgia Line’s “Simple,” Chris Lane’s infamous “I Don’t Know About You” and Cole Swindell’s “Single Saturday Night” to Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” Cody Johnson’s “How Do You Sleep At Night?” and Post Malone and Luke Combs’ “Missin’ You Like This.” With so many tracks and so many artists relying on him to keep churning out hits during co-writes, you’d think that there’d be some added pressure to maintain a balance between his career as a solo artist and songwriter. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for HARDY. In a recent appearance on Chris Williamson’s podcast, Modern Wisdom, the “McArthur” singer opened up about about how he maintains the aforementioned balance. Surprisingly, for HARDY, the best way he deals with it is not really thinking about it at all. As he explained, songwriting comes so naturally to him that he can easily take six months off to tour extensively, then jump right back in like he never left. “I try not to think about it, really. I’m very thankful to have started out as a songwriter because I feel like I can jump right in and never skip a beat. I can tour for six months or whatever and barely write a song, and just jump right and write for somebody else. It’s not difficult at all. I’ve never really thought about the balance or the pressure between the two at all. To be completely candid, touring is a lot more lucrative than songwriting. A little bit of that takes the pressure off of having to make a career out of songwriting, but I just want to write hits for other people so bad. I’ll just never not want to do that. It’s why I moved to town; it’s my first love. I just love having great songs and giving that song to somebody and hoping that it helps their career.” He would admit, however, that every once in awhile, he will specifically request some time off the road in favor to write more, comparing his need to pen songs to a tank that keeps him going. Additionally, he’d note that the lack of pressure he puts on himself oftentimes leads to more creativity and better creative moments during a co-write. “I never really felt pressure. There’s definitely been times where I’ve [talked to my management and said], ‘Hey guys, we need to find balance. I need to write more songs.’ It’s a tank that I have. If it’s empty, I feel a little bit less sense of purpose if I haven’t been writing songs… There’s times where I become a little bit more aware that I need to sort of redistribute my time, but I’ve never really felt the pressure to do one more than the other… I try to take the pressure off myself, and I think it makes for more creativity and better creative moments when you don’t feel pressure to write hits or write so many songs.” As HARDY continues to rack up hits, both by himself and with superstars such as Wallen, it’s pretty safe to say that not thinking about the balance has worked out pretty well for him so far. Watch the full podcast here: HARDY Tour Dates February 11 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Canada Life Center °* February 12 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – SaskTel Centre °* February 13 – Edmonton, Alberta – Rogers Place °* February 19 – Calgary, Alberta – Scotiabank Saddledome °* February 20 – Penticton, British Columbia- South Okanagan Events Centre °* February 21 – Abbotsford, British Columbia – Abbotsford Centre °* March 19 – Green Bay, Wisconsin – The Resch Center °* March 20 – Moline, Illinois – Vibrant Arena °* March 21 – Omaha, Nebraska – CHI Health Center Omaha °* March 26 – Allentown, Pennsylvania- PPL Center °* March 27 – Charleston, West Virginia – Charleston Coliseum °* March 28 – Evansville, Indiana – Ford Center °* April 9 – Knoxville, Tennessee – Thompson-Boling Arena x* April 10 – Tupelo, Mississippi – Cadence Bank Arena x* April 17-18 – Durant, Oklahoma – Choctaw Grand Theater * April 23 – Jacksonville. Florida – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena x* April 24 – Charleston, South Carolina – Credit One Stadium x* April 25 – Orlando, Florida – Kia Center x* May 21 – Cincinnati, Ohio – Riverbend Music Center ~* May 22 – Huntsville, Alabama – The Orion Amphitheater ~* May 23 – Orange Beach, Alabama – The Wharf Amphitheater ~* May 28 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – Blossom Music Center ~* May 29 – Darien Center, New York – Darien Lake Amphitheater ~* May 30 – Bethel, New York – Bethel Woods Center for the Arts ~* June 4 – Rogers, Arkansas – Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion °* June 5 – St. Louis, Missouri – Hollywood Casino Amphitheater °* June 6 – Noblesville, Indiana – Ruoff Music Center °* June 11 – Columbia, Maryland – Merriweather Post Pavilion ~* June 12 – Virginia Beach, Virginia – Veterans United Home Loans ~* June 13 – Raleigh, North Carolina – Costal Credit Union Music Park ~* June 25 – Gilford, New Hampshire – BankNH Pavilion #* June 26 – Mansfield, Massachusetts – Xfinity Center #* June 27 – Camden, New Jersey – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion #* August 20 – Lubbock, Texas – Cooks Garage =* August 21 – New Braunfels, Texas – Whitewater Amphitheater * ° – Cameron Whitcomb * – McCoy Moore x – Mitchell Tenpenny ~ – Tucker Wetmore # – Muscadine Bloodline = – Jake WorthingtonThe post “It’s My First Love”: Hardy Says He’s Never Felt Pressure To Balance His Career As A Songwriter & An Artist first appeared on Whiskey Riff.