Sophia Michaels
Hardy and Lainey Wilson brought a harrowing tale of domestic violence and vigilante justice to the CMA Awards stage with their rendition of “Wait in the Truck,” currently just outside the Top 25 on country radio.
Wilson, the top nominee at the 2022 CMA Awards, plays the woman in distress to Hardy’s avenging hero in the song, which will appear on Hardy’s upcoming album The Mockingbird & the Crow (out Jan. 20). After running into a woman who has been beaten bloody, Hardy’s character enacts revenge outside the law. Wilson sings it from a place of conflicted relief: “I don’t know if he’s an angel/’Cause angels don’t do what he did.”
The duo performed the song against the facade of a cabin on a stage shrouded in fog; the titular truck was parked nearby.
It was odd to say the least, however, that Wilson, with her six total nominations, didn’t get to sing a song off her brand-new album Bell Bottom Country, released just two weeks prior to the CMA Awards. Her single “Heart Like a Truck” sits higher than “Wait in the Truck” on the latest edition of the Billboard Country Airplay chart. Both Wilson and Hardy were both nominated for the CMA for New Artist of the Year; Wilson won.
Speaking with Rolling Stone last month, Wilson called Hardy “one of the best songwriters, not just in Nashville, but the entire world.” Hardy had reached out to her about collaborating on “Wait in the Truck” over the summer. “He was like, ‘I think I wrote the best song I’ve ever written.’ I was like, ‘Yeah right, you probably say that about everything.’ I listened to it and I was like, ‘Wow, this is the kind of music that I grew up listening to, whether it was ‘Thunder Rolls’ or ‘Whiskey Lullaby.’ I love the message, it’s shining a light on a really dark subject.”
Wilson has handful of dates scheduled through the end of 2022, including supporting shows with Luke Combs, and then will embark on her headlining Country with a Flare Tour in January. Hardy has numerous dates in 2023 after his album comes out, many of which are already sold out.
