The most-nominated artist at this year’s ACMs commanded the stage with a hard-rock flourish
Hardy brought an intense performance of “Truck Bed” to the 2023 ACM Awards in Frisco, Texas, where he was one of the evening’s top nominees. The song appears on Hardy’s album The Mockingbird & The Crow, which also features his recent hit duet “Wait in the Truck” featuring Lainey Wilson.
The lyrics of “Truck Bed” describe the aftermath of a bad night in which he gets kicked out for wanting to go drink at the bar. “I woke up on the wrong side of the truck bed this morning/with a bone-dry bottle of Jack I was pouring,” Hardy sings. It even nods to his song “Boots,” from 2020’s A Rock, which depicts a similar story of drunken mishaps. His performance was a slow burn, with strobing lights and green neon, before he ripped his hat off and exploded into a shouted, aggressive rock arrangement.
Hardy started the evening with four total nominations, including Music Event for “Wait in the Truck” (he won in that category). The Mockingbird & The Crow was released in January and is a loose concept album that splits its two sides between Hardy’s immaculate pop-country confections and brooding rock sounds. “Sold Out,” from the heavier side, also found its way to Number One on the U.S. Hard Rock chart.
Hardy has been playing select dates on Morgan Wallen’s One Night at a Time Tour, which has been postponed for at least the next six weeks while Wallen goes on vocal rest. Between those stops, Hardy has several festival dates lined up, including the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam in north Florida on June 1, the Carolina Country Music Fest on June 8, and Lakes Jam 2023 in Brainerd, Wisconsin, on June 23.