HARDY Drops Much-Anticipated Song ‘Dog Years’ on New Album After 12-Year Wait

HARDY is gearing up to drop his eagerly awaited album, Country! Country!, on Sept. 26. The album consists of 20 songs that balance traditional and modern country music and features ERNEST and Stephen Wilson Jr. The album's singles, "Favorite Country Song" and "Bro Country," have already gained traction on country radio and were recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Among the most emotional songs on the album is "Dog Years," which HARDY wrote in 2013 following the loss of his childhood dog, Nugget:

"I went home for dear season over the holidays, and I knew that my dog was getting old, and when it was cold, they'd let him sleep in the front part of the hallway next to where the laundry room was because he was an outside dog," he explained. "And I laid with him one night and I fell asleep and I woke up at five in the morning and went and got in the bed, and then I slept a couple more hours and I drove back to Nashville and my dad called me the next morning and he had passed away. So that was the first time that I had cried in seven or eight years."

The song is told from Nugget's perspective and explores themes of love and loss. Despite being written over a decade ago, it remained unrecorded until 2024, as many artists felt it was too emotional to perform. Miranda Lambert encouraged HARDY to finally record it after she invited him to perform the song at her MuttNation charity event, where she later sang harmonies with him.

"And finally, I wrote 'Dog Years' in 2013, right after I graduated from college…so that song got me my first publishing deal, which was a joint deal with Kobalt, and it was really special song," recalled HARDY.

HARDY recently concluded his extensive JIM BOB World Tour with his first headlining show at Madison Square Garden, marking another significant milestone in his career.