HARDY, Nickelback highlight country and rock's generational ties on 'CMT Crossroads'

The best explanation for why HARDY and Nickelback's upcoming episode of "CMT Crossroads" works so well is that the emerging superstar singer-songwriter was an impressionable 14-year-old when the Canadian rock band's top-10 Billboard charting anthem "Rockstar" was released in 2005.

Only four years prior, Philadelphia, Mississippi, native HARDY saw another 2000s-era rock favorite, Creed, play another top-10 rock hit, "My Own Prison," during a concert in Jackson.

"Hearing the key change before they played that song — it was the one I wanted to hear — and then when the song came in, I was so ecstatic," noted "The Mockingbird and the Crow" album artist in a January 2023 interview with The Tennessean. "You make music for moments like that."

Fifteen months after that conversation, HARDY shared a stage at Nashville's Marathon Music Works with Nickelback, including performances of Nickelback’s “Save Me” and “Animals,” HARDY’s “Truck Bed” and “Give Heaven Some Hell,” plus a first-time mashup of Nickelback's 2005 song "Rockstar," and HARDY's February-released song of the same name.

HARDY and Nickelback's episode of "CMT Crossroads" premieres Saturday on CMT at 7 p.m. CT.

Musical 'misconceptions'

Nickelback bassist Mike Kroeger is the brother of the band's lead singer, Chad Kroeger.

Over the past three decades, the band eclipsed over 50 million albums sold worldwide with music that socially and statistically defined the first decade of the 21st century ("How You Remind Me" was 2000-2009's best-selling rock song and the fourth-best overall-selling song).

The negative sentiment associated with Nickelback has also been attached to HARDY. Some have said the artists are "the most hated in the world" and make "bad, loathsome music."

In a conversation with The Tennessean, Mike Kroeger says he believes that the mythology and stereotypes surrounding the lifestyle and songs familiar to both their catalogs — because they care more about the fans in front of them than about the misconceptions of those watching from afar — has created an entire commercial industry based around clickbait online articles and potentially misguided hatred heaped upon their work.

"Try to hate the songs (HARDY is releasing right now). You can't," says frequent HARDY guitarist and Music City session player Derek Wells. "They're all the real deal."

Country and rock's shared modern roots

Kroeger cackles when asked to reminisce about an event where HARDY joined Nickelback onstage, as it was similar to when he did so at their headline concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in August 2023.

"It's funny. They say that in country music, it's all about these small-town stories," Kroeger starts. "I guess that makes us more country than most, because our hometown of Hanna, Alberta, Canada, is three times smaller than where HARDY grew up in Mississippi.

"Also, if you listen to what his band is playing right now, they play a brand of rock that is so much heavier than anything we've ever played," Kroeger continues. "But after playing for him at Bridgestone and at Marathon Music Works, I am proud to say I'm the only human bass player HARDY has ever used."

It's clear that a blurring of the lines will continue for yet another generation in country and rock music's mainstream.

'ROCKSTAR' and 'Rockstar'

"Being a rock star is a really tongue-in-cheek thing, actually," Kroeger says. "HARDY's song and video really play upon how comical and fun it is to have the creative freedom to not get so bogged down in (the minutiae of) music as a profession. Rock isn't about (maintaining an) image, posture or style of dress."

Kroeger pauses and laughs before making his next statement.

"You can't listen to an outfit."

For HARDY, the song represents being a step past "changing the trajectory of his life" by what a Tennessean review refers to as "hurling himself with unrepentant glee" into what a press statement calls his very un-serious "'Rednecker' for rock 'n' roll."

However, that music is still driven by "signature songwriting" that leans upon "sticky, ear-worming hooks."

A 'master class' in rock production

The tie that connects HARDY and Nickelback isn't just grunge-aided aggressive rock.

Big Loud Records co-owner and lead producer Joey Moi is the mastermind behind work for HARDY and Morgan Wallen. He also sat behind the boards for Florida Georgia Line's hits, including platinum-selling 2012 Nelly duet "Cruise," as well as Nickelback's success.

"I mean, Joey, all of us also, owe a lot to learning from "Mutt" Lange's classic songs, too," adds Kroeger, noting that Lange, a producer with hit albums by AC/DC, Def Leppard and Shania Twain to his name, co-produced Nickelback's 2008 album "Dark Horse" with Moi.

"The catchy, listenable rock sound that Joey's producing now is one that developed through a boot camp and master class of production over the years."

'Cool melodies' with a universal appeal

"Our songs like 'Photograph' and 'Rockstar' appeal to fans of country music because so much of what defined great music (regardless of genre) for so long were cool melodies that thousands of people could enjoy, together," Kroeger says.

For the past two years, HARDY has found that notion of heavy sounds guided by hard melodies working for him as his appeal has broadened from blue-collar country fanatics to hard-partying tourists and white-collar corporate types in cities and towns big and small nationwide.

The blending of multiple generations of people from numerous walks of life excites Nickelback's Kroeger.

"This concert and where all of our music is headed in the future does not concern itself with whether it's country or rock 'n' roll," he says. "We're focused on making music that people enjoy that reflects how much more we care about ... having fun."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nickelback and HARDY team up in Nashville for 'CMT Crossroads' episode