HARDY on 'manifesting good energy' into seven 2023 ACM Award nominations

HARDY's speaking with The Tennessean a night before playing two sold-out nights alongside headliner Morgan Wallen and fellow openers ERNEST and Bailey Zimmerman at Milwaukee's American Family Field.

Between the quartet, they're nominated for 15 Academy of Country Music Awards at May 11's ceremony at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The lion's share of that success (a field-leading 7 nominations) belongs to the 32-year-old Middle Tennessee State University-educated artist born Michael Hardy in Philadelphia, Mississippi, who has been signed — like ERNEST and Wallen — to Big Loud Records since 2018.

He's come a long way since achieving breakout songwriting success with Wallen and Florida Georgia Line's collaboration "Up Down" in 2017.

"I had no idea I would be nominated for so many things so many times," offered HARDY to The Tennessean. "It's insanely crazy."

"I woke up in shock this morning," the artist behind January 2023-released album "the mockingbird and THE CROW" added via a press statement. "This truly feels like my year, and I'm just thankful that the industry would consider me as one of the top songwriters and artists in this town. Thanks to the ACM, Big Loud, The Neal Agency, and my publisher, Relative Music Group for all of the support. Thank you for all of it."

For HARDY, the self-confidence to achieve the greatest number of nominations at the ACM Awards doesn't just emanate from being able to scream "KILL S**T TILL I DIE," "Rednecker," or "SOLD OUT" at the top of his lungs in front of well over three million people in 2023 alone at live events he's scheduled to play.

Instead, he attributes the process to learning how to focus on potential setbacks as opportunities that still have yet to manifest themselves, plus having "dumb confidence" in "blindly having no back-up plan and knowing that failure is not an option."

HARDY's released or written somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 songs in the past five years, though. Thus, his nominations as a singer-songwriter, including two separate nominations for Song of the Year — as both the co-writer of Wallen's "Sand In My Boots" and the artist for his Lainey Wilson collaboration "wait in the truck," plus appearing as a convicted felon in "wait in the truck "'s video, highlight just how fruitful his half-decade of labor has been.

He credits being able to maintain a steady level of confidence over his past decade in Nashville despite writing "hundreds and hundreds of songs that weren't quite good enough" as developing a level of craftsmanship that has him well along the path to likely eclipsing 20 No. 1 singles as either a songwriter or vocalist in less time than the five years it's taken him to achieve ringing the bell at the top of country's radio charts a dozen times.

"Parlaying doubling down on my work into a record deal, then playing those dates I didn't want to play taught me how to develop myself as an artist who can [positively impact] ticket sales were all important [factors in my success]. The level of grind that's gone into achieving days like today has made me appreciate it that much more."

"[Before today], I was a little nervous about announcing an arena tour and hoping it would sell well," states HARDY about his forthcoming 17-date debut run as a headliner alongside six-time 2023 ACM nominee Lainey Wilson.

"There were already dates selling out, but I think that'll keep happening now," he jokes.

In relation to his Wilson collaboration "wait in the truck" (which also features credited co-writer Renee Blair) and Kane Brown's "Thank God" (a duet featuring his wife, Katelyn), HARDY highlights that the collaborative energy between male and female artists in the space (a continuing trend from Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood's 2022 ACM Single of the Year "If I Didn't Love You") reflects "connecting the beauty in the space existing between genders and styles [in contemporary country music]."

Citing other hits like Johnny and June Carter Cash's 1967 classic "Jackson," Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers' 1983 duet "Islands In The Stream," Aldean and Kelly Clarkson's 2010 "Don't You Wanna Stay" from more recent times, he adds that it's "really cool we're opening the window back up and creating more hopefully timeless songs."

"I usually succeed when I don't think about it," jokes HARDY about his potential for clearing the table and going 7-for-7 at the 2023 ACM Awards.

"I'm just grateful to be manifesting the good energy in my world and turning that into experiencing a series of life-changing moments this year. I'm counting my blessings — on May 11 I'm going to sit back with my friends and wife and enjoy the evening."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: HARDY on 'manifesting good energy' into seven 2023 ACM Award nominations