Hardy Gets Ready For His First-Ever Live Album

“I haven’t really given a lot of thought to what it could be, what it could become or the potential it could have.”

Hardy joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday (Jan. 29) to celebrate the upcoming release of his first-ever live album, Live From Red Rocks. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“There are a lot of songs throughout history, especially rock and roll, that I kind of forget are live album songs,” Hardy told host Chuck Armstrong.

“Like ‘Free Bird’ is a great example. [Frampton Comes Alive!], obviously. He’s built pretty much an entire career off of one live album.”

For Hardy, even though he hasn’t given much thought to what Live From Red Rocks could be, as he mentioned “Freebird” and Frampton Comes Alive!, it was clear he was excited for its release.

“I wanted to put it out to show everybody what it’s like to come to a show if they’ve never been to one and feel that energy,” he explained.

There is no question Live From Red Rocks does just that as it captures two sold-out shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre from October 2024. On the first track shared from the album, “Jim Bob,” Hardy’s intensity onstage is nearly overcome by the energy of the audience, making for an unforgettable listening experience — whether you were lucky enough to be at Red Rocks or not.

“It would be really cool if this turned into sort of a cornerstone or staple record in my career. I would be so happy about that.”

Hardy and Dream Collaborations

In addition to celebrating Live From Red Rocks, Hardy and Chuck spent some time re-visiting a previous conversation they’ve had about one of Hardy’s dream collaborations: Corey Taylor.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there’s too much movement on that front at the moment.

“I haven’t talked to him in awhile,” Hardy admitted. “I need to hit him up and see how he’s doing.”

Hardy shared that he usually panics when someone mentions “dream collaborations” because he generally doesn’t know how to respond or what to say.

But just as soon as those words were spoken, Hardy followed it up with his latest hopeful partnership.

“I really would love to do something creative with Trent Reznor,” he said.

“I’m a huge Nine Inch Nails fan. I mess around a lot with tracks and I kind of have this weird alter ego thing, like, when I finish a project, I’ll make a song that’s completely just this weird thing and I would almost love to explore a production side of things.”

READ MORE: Stephen Wilson Jr. Praises Seattle’s Influence on Songwriting

As Hardy thought about other people Reznor has collaborated with in the past, he wondered if this might be possible one day.

“I don’t think that he knows that I exist, but I’m just sending it out there.”

What Else Did Hardy Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• How he’s never truly felt hate from people for the first time: “I’ve experienced hate from the country fans that are not real Hardy fans, the more I lean into rock and roll.”
• Why he loves Stephen Wilson Jr.: “Sometimes you just look at people like him and you’re like, ‘I’m not telling you nothing, bro’ … I’m just excited to do more stuff with him.”
• What’s on the horizon for him this year: “I’m going to announce a tour soon, very soon … Aside from the live album, I’ve got a big chunk of new music coming. Also, I’ve got a baby coming in a month.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Hardy joined Loudwire Nights on Wednesday, Jan. 29; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.