HARDY, ERNEST, Cooper Alan Play 'Up Close And Personal Experience' In Vegas

HARDY, ERNEST and Cooper Alan ventured to the Las Vegas strip during Super Bowl LVIII weekend as part of an all-star lineup of free, open-to-the-public shows that offered intimate crowds a sense of the entertainment world in Nashville, Tennessee.

The three artists took the stage to deliver powerful sets while interacting with intimate audiences at DawgHouse Saloon and Sportsbook, located inside Resorts World Theater, in the days leading up to the big game at Allegiant Stadium, where the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Fransisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime. Alan, ERNEST and HARDY took the stage during pre, open-to-the-public events on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, respectively, ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, igniting Ashley House with some of their fan-favorite anthems and spontaneous crowd requests.

Alan, who drew a connection to the DawgHouse Saloon location in Music City, spoke with iHeartCountry in the days following his performance. He reflected on the “up close and personal experience,” that allows for conversations with the audience in between songs. The North Carolina-born singer-songwriter experienced a surge in his career as an artist when some of his songs went viral on TikTok, and he continues to interact heavily with his fans across multiple platforms, including to gauge how they’re responding to unreleased music. Alan noted his performance at the cozy, intimate venue included a rendition of “Take Forever,” — spotlighting a couple aiming to use the ballad as their first dance song — a Toby Keith cover in honor of the late country music legend who did days earlier, and more.

“When I’ve been a person in the crowd at an event like that, been some of my favorite nights ever because you’re getting a personal experience with the artists. That was a really cool thing for people to be a part of,” Alan told iHeartCountry. Though he wasn’t able to stick around to catch their performances that weekend, Alan hailed HARDY and ERNEST “two of my favorites in country music. …(Their music is) so different than anything that’s out there right now”

All three artists in the lineup are gearing up for a whirlwind 2024, packed with tour dates and new music in the works. Alan noted after the Ashley-organized events that he “always (tries) to write stage that’s authentic to me. That’s really the only way to do it as an artist,” he said, noting HARDY and Jelly Roll as some of his inspirations for blazing their own trails in the music industry.

ERNEST recently teased a collaboration with Jelly Roll when he posted a sneak peek on Instagram. The two Nashville, Tennessee-born artists seemingly teamed up on a song together when ERNEST shared an audio clip on Instagram, simply captioned “I went to college/ I went to jail.” The brief snippet of the unreleased track comes shortly after ERNEST posted photos from the recording studio to confirm that he’s working on his favorite album yet.

HARDY’s latest releases are “Rockstar” and “QUIT!!” — which inspired the name of his 2024 tour — a rock anthem following his half-country, half-rock project, the mockingbird & THE CROW, which dropped last year. The award-winning singer-songwriter is also slated to release DIFFTAPE, the third installment of his HIXTAPE projects, next month, serving as a tribute to late country legend Joe Diffie. He made the announcement after performing a surprise tribute to Diffie with Morgan Wallen and Post Malone — who seemingly teased a collaboration with Luke Combs — at the 57th annual CMA Awards in November, hosted at Bridgestone Arena in Downtown Nashville. That collection is set to release next month.