Hardy and Lainey Wilson have officially joined the list of country stars with murder ballads in their catalog — a list that includes Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, Garth Brooks and the Chicks.
On Friday (Aug. 26), the singers are sharing their brand new collaboration, a murder ballad titled “Wait in the Truck.”
Hardy co-wrote the song with Hunter Phelps, Jordan Schmidt and Renee Blair, and it features compelling storytelling that paints powerfully vivid images of dramatic and chill-inducing scenes of violence, confrontation and an eventual demise. It opens with a plain-spoken recount of how the protagonist — portrayed by Hardy — crossed paths with a woman he did not know one fateful day.
“I got turned around in some little town / I’d never been to before / Working my way through a middle of June / Midnight thunderstorm / There was something in the headlights / That stopped me on a dime / Well she was scared to death / So I said climb in and in she climbed,” Hardy narrates with his signature raspy vocals.
As the story unfolds in the second verse, listeners realize that the trepidation-filled lady was thoroughly battered and abused, with blood splattered all over her slightly torn-up shirt. The furious protagonist, though shocked, spares her the bombardment of questions and chooses to take matters into his own hands.
“Well she was bruised and broke from head to toe / With a tear in her blood-stained shirt / She didn’t tell the whole truth / But she didn’t have to I knew what had happened to her / I didn’t load her down with questions / That girl had been through enough / I just threw it in drive / Looked in those eyes / And asked her where he was,” Hardy continues as the tempo builds up.
Wilson, who assumes the role of the abused woman, then joins Hardy on the chorus.
“I don’t know if he’s an angel / ‘Cause angels don’t do what he did / He was hell-bent to find the man behind / All the whiskey scars I hid / I never thought my day of justice / Would come from a judge under his seat / But I knew right then I’d never get hit again when he said to me / Wait in the truck / Just wait in the truck,” she recalls.
As the song progresses, the fate of Wilson’s tyrant ex-lover and knight in shining armor are revealed, as the singers plead, “Have mercy on me / Lord Have mercy on me / Have mercy on me Lord,” in the gospel choir-assisted refrain.
“Wait in the Truck” is the latest song release from Hardy. It follows “Sold Out,” which dropped earlier in 2022, as well as 2021’s Hixtape Vol. 2, which included collaborations with Dierks Bentley, Matt Stell, Ernest, Rhett Akins and more. His debut studio album, A Rock, dropped in 2020 and featured the singles “One Beer” with Lauren Alaina and Devin Dawson, and “Give Heaven Some Hell.”
Wilson recently announced the Oct. 8 arrival of her brand-new album, Bell Bottom Country. The LP was previewed with its lead single “Heart Like a Truck,” which is currently climbing up the country radio charts. Wilson, best known for her No. 1 hit “Things a Man Oughta Know,” dropped her acclaimed album Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ in 2021.
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