On May 19, 2019, Laine Hardy’s life forever changed. “Right after Ryan Seacrest called my name and said I won [‘American Idol’], I didn’t know what to say,” the soft spoken 19-year-old singer tells Country Beat Magazine. “I was at a loss of emotion. I didn’t know how to act. It was just a whirlwind. It was crazy!”
Fast forward 12 months, and Laine’s life and career are still in high speed, but he admits to have found the balance to juggle it all. But one thing that still throws him off guard is when people in his everyday life recognize the star. “I still don’t know what to think of it,” he says, smiling. “It’s pretty cool. I really appreciate it all!”
Not long after his victory, Laine began spending much of his time in Nashville, prepping for his debut album. During that time, Laine was connected with some of Nashville’s top songwriters which helped develop his own craft throughout the process. “I didn’t know the first thing about songwriting,” admits Laine. “When I first got to Nashville, I didn’t know what to expect. I was kind of nervous about what they would think about me. The first write went surprisingly well. I was really happy about it because I like writing songs. I never wrote them before, and I wanted to learn how to do it – like the art of it.
“Being able to write with these amazing songwriters, I learned so much,” he adds. “These songwriters accepted me as one of their own, you know what I mean? They were really nice and took time with me and explained some things when I asked questions about how and why did y’all do this or how does this work with this? They were really patient and really nice to me. It’s just so crazy how somebody can write these words and it becomes an emotion. There’s so much that goes into songwriting; it’s not just words. It’s not just lyrics you look up. There’s a lot of meaning to them. I like songs with meaning.”
While fans patiently await the debut full-length project from Laine, he has been giving them a taste of what’s to come with the release of both “The Ground I Grew Up On” and “Let There Be Country,” both songs which he did not have a hand in writing, but very well could have based on the lyrical content.
“‘The Ground I Grew Up On’ really connected with me, and I related to it immediately. It had some really amazing lyrics and some amazing songwriters on it,” says Laine of the tune penned by singer-songwriter Josh Thompson, Brett Beavers and Brandon Kinney. “It’s just a really awesome song, and I thought it deserved to be heard.”
Laine worked closely with hit record producer Michael Knox (Jason Aldean, Montgomery Gentry, Trace Adkins) on the tune, making sure that the singer’s thumbprint was put on every aspect of the creative process in the studio. “Before I recorded it, I didn’t know what it would sound like or anything, and then I threw in some ideas, which Michael liked my style and what I grew up listening to and stuff like that, and he put all my ideas into one straight line. He knew exactly what I was talking about. He hit the nail on the head, and I am really excited about the outcome of it. It worked out nice.”
Laine released a video for “The Ground I Grew Up On,” which helped further more prove how well the song hit home for the Louisiana native. A majority of the video shows Laine, his brother, his cousin and one of his best friends skipping down the river in a boat, laughing and living life to its fullest. “There was no acting there,” laughs Laine. “That was all genuine. That was me, doing what I do. It was pretty cool!”
Besides music, life in the great outdoors is something equally as important to Laine. “Growing up, my brother always took me hunting,” he recalls. “My dad took me sometimes, but he was really busy raising three children and working a lot. He was a hardworking man. He came with us when he could. We had a camp in Mississippi where we always went turkey hunting, deer hunting, fishing – whatever.”
While his first full touring season since being crowned the winner of ‘Idol’ hasn’t panned out the way Laine had hoped with the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been making the most of his time off, soaking up family and friends – something he knows he won’t be as fortunate to do once he is back out on the road.
“I was really looking forward to playing some shows and stuff this year,” says Laine. “I was kind of like this sucks that we can’t go play shows and hang out with everybody, but then I looked at it from a different perspective as in just now is a time of rest, and I get to hang out with all my family and friends. I’m really close to my family, and I definitely wouldn’t be here without them.
“When you’re out on the road, you’re away from them,” he continues. “It’s just rebuilding some roots and rediscovering who you are. I didn’t lose myself or nothing, no no no [laughter]. I just love finding things that bring joy to me and it helps me a lot when I go home and see my family. Because once things open back up, it’s going to be extremely busy!”
Laine plans on releasing more songs and videos over the duration of the year to keep engaged with his fan base until they can reunite once again on the road. “As far as shows this year, that all depends on the rules or whatever, but as of recording and songwriting and releasing cool things, that’s going to be throughout the year. I’m going to be recording some things in the studio, releasing some songs, putting out some cool little videos of those songs and announce some cool news that I can’t speak of right now, but I’m excited!”
To help bridge that gap while in quarantine, Laine has been hosting virtual concert tours for his fans via social media outlets. “I love the virtual tours because it’s something I can do to stay connected with my fans because we can’t go out on the road,” Laine explains. “I like to connect with them that way, same goes for Instagram. It’ll be cool to someday go back and look at everything. Ten years from now, I’m going to look back at these videos and go that’s awesome! That’s crazy to think about, you know?”
And at the rate he is going, Laine Hardy will have plenty of memories to remember over time, but one thing is for certain. He will never forget how he got to where he’s going throughout his career. “I’m never going to forget what got me here,” Laine says softly. “You got me here, all the people got me here, and all the people down the road who will get me where I go … I just want to tell everyone thank y’all for getting me where I am. I can never say thank you enough!”
