HARDY at 'Stars and Strings'

Inside the Hard Rock Artist Lounge at our 'Stars and Strings' show in Hollywood, FL, HARDY updated us on Dad Life, talked touring, the emotions of "Dog Years," and more with TC & Dina B. Plus, the singer did a blind ranking of songs you have to see. "It's just different," HARDY admits about being a father. "I mean, everything is just everything, every decision that you make revolves around having a child now and it's from as small as 'do I have time to go to the bathroom?' to 'how many shows should I play next year?' and everything in-between. It's crazy." HARDY is hot off the release of his new album, 'COUNTRY! COUNTRY!,' featuring the emotional song, "Dog Years," which he tells us came from a real life moment with his childhood dog. "That song changed my life," he says. "I wrote that song shortly after my longtime 15 year childhood dog died." "I was still in college and I'd gone home for Christmas," he remembers. "I knew that when I left like I wasn't gonna see him again. We let him in, he's an outside dog, and we let him in because it was really cold that night and I remember he would sleep right by our utility room in there. I was leaving the next morning and I went in there and I laid down with him and I just, you know, I fell asleep and I woke up at like 5AM. I just laid on the floor with him and fell asleep. I got up and got my stuff and drove back to Nashville and my dad called me like the next day or two days after and said that he had died. So that one came from the heart." For more on touring and to watch HARDY do a blind ranking of his songs, check out the full conversation above.