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When HARDY received the Songwriter of the Year award at the 15th Annual ACM Honors, there was one story that stood out to him. It happened several years ago, when he was still paving his career as an artist. HARDY remembered the way that one listener tried to tear him down, and revealed what he would do with his award:
“In 2015, I was playing a songwriter round with a tip jar on the front of the stage. Nobody played on that stage that night had a hit. We just played original songs, and we might’ve made $10 in tips. But one person wrote ‘QUIT’ on a napkin, and they put it in that tip jar. And tonight, that ‘QUIT’ napkin will be sitting right beside this (expletive).”
HARDY proudly held his Songwriter of the Year award in the air as the crowd at the historic Ryman Auditorium applauded and cheered for him. The award recognizes an “exceptional writer, one of Country Music’s most distinctive and creative talents, who has co-penned 11 #1 singles since 2018,” according to the Academy of Country Music.
HARDY also took the stage that night with ERNEST, performing a medley of some of Morgan Wallen’s biggest hits as he received the ACM Milestone Award. The two singer-songwriters teamed up for their renditions of “Sand In My Boots,” “Wasted On You” and “More Than My Hometown,” which all appeared on Wallen’s massive Dangerous: The Double Album project last year.
Wallen will be performing at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival this September, and fans can tune in and watch live via an exclusive stream each night on September 23rd and 24th on The CW app and CWTV.com. The CW Network will also broadcast a two-night television special this October. Additionally, the festival will be broadcast live for fans via iHeartRadio stations throughout the country across more than 150 markets, and on the iHeartRadio app. Find available tickets.