Hardy Celebrates No. 1 Songs With Lainey Wilson, Songwriters: “Everybody That’s Sitting in These Chairs Made the Song Better”

Hardy estimates he’s written 50 songs with the word truck in the title, but his two most recent No. 1 hits–”Wait In The Truck” and “Truck Bed”–couldn’t be more different.

“Wait In The Truck” is a wonderfully graphic story song that finds the singer jailed after committing murder to avenge a domestic violence victim, a part Lainey Wilson memorably covers in the collaboration. “Truck Bed” is a genre-bending ode to a hard night of drinking that is more Limp Bizkit than Merle Haggard.  It’s also one of the highest performing songs of Hardy’s career.

He celebrated both hit songs on Monday in Nashville at BMI–alongside Wilson and the co-writers with whom he wrote them. Hardy wrote “Wait In The Truck” with Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt, and Renee Blair. “Truck Bed” came from Hardy’s writing session with Phelps, Ashley Gorley, and Ben Johnson.

The writers and Wilson sat in a line beside Hardy on BMI’s rooftop as their publishers and other members of the music community feted them. The scene of his creative partners in a row beside him made Hardy even more thankful.

“Everybody that’s sitting in these chairs made the song better,” Hardy said. “There’s times where people maybe can get in the way or hold back creative freedoms or the creative ball that’s kind of rolling in the room. Between producers and songwriters, every person that has sat in a chair truly made both songs better.”

Hardy: “Everybody That’s Sitting in These Chairs Made the Song Better”

The praise was music to Blair’s ears. Her contribution to “Wait In The Truck” came while she was singing the demo and heard a part in her head. She’s married to Schmidt and asked him if she could take some liberties with the demo because she heard a part in her head. He reminded her she wasn’t a writer on the song but relented. The refrain was the “Have mercy on me” line that includes a gospel choir in the recording. Blair didn’t ask for a writing credit on the song, but Hardy gave it to her anyway. She said she has imposter syndrome whenever someone calls her a writer on the song, but Hardy explained her contribution is one of the song’s best parts.

“We got a gospel choir on country radio with that voice in my head,” Blair said, her voice quivering with emotion. “It made me a little bit more picky of which voices in my head I listened to. This song is about a guy saving a girl from a toxic relationship. I was kind of in a toxic relationship with myself when this song happened. And so to me, the girl that was saved in this song is me.”
When Hardy sent Wilson “Wait In The Truck,” he told her it was the best song he’d ever written. She had just released “Heart Like A Truck,” and he was concerned she wouldn’t want two truck songs. But she knew she had to record it with him when she heard it.

“It took me back to why I fell in love with country music, to begin with,” she said. “This was about something that a lot of people don’t want to talk about. It likes to kind of be hidden behind closed doors. But I had made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would only sing and write music and be a part of songs that I didn’t write that I felt like made a difference. And this song right here, y’all, has made a difference in so many people’s lives.”

“Wait In The Truck” Reminded Lainey Wilson of What She Loves about Country Music

Wilson said she leaned on Garth Brooks’ “The Thunder Rolls” and The Chicks’ “Goodbye Earl” for performance inspiration. She sees how it impacts fans every night when she sings it on stage. She remembers a lady at one of her recent shows in Oregon crying on the front row and repeating “thank you” over and over while Wilson sang the chorus.

“That right there is the power of storytelling, and I thank God that I get to be a vessel,” Wilson said. “(I thank) everybody that has put their hands on this song in any kind of way.”

Wilson didn’t think country radio would play the song, but she knew if they did, it would make a difference. She thinks country music fans will still be talking about “Wait In The Truck” in 50 years.
“This song right here is going to stand the test of time,” she said.

Hardy wasn’t positive country radio would play “Truck Bed.” He laughed that he isn’t known for giving the radio promotion team at his record label easy songs to get played. Because of the progressive production of “Truck Bed,” he thought it would be harder to get up the charts.

“I know that my music, a lot of times, is a little left of center and that you have to maybe push a little bit harder for my songs that are about killing people or that sound a little like Limp Bizkit at the end,” Hardy said. “It’s my favorite group of people to write with in town. I love every one of you. I know it takes a team. It takes a village for not just one song, but two songs to go to No. 1.”