Music
Hope Takes A Smoke Break
(Review Coming Soon)
Credits:
All songs written by Pat, except tracks 2 written with Bud Merrick and Gavin Niebuhr, track 12 written by Matt Long, & track 6 inspired by the poet Robert Hayden
Pat Hardy: acoustic guitar (tracks 1-4, & 6-12), dobro (track 8), electric slide guitar (tracks 1 & 5), electric rhythm guitar (tracks 1-3 & 5), lap steel guitar (track 8), percussion (track 10) & vocals
Ashley B Pedigo: harmony vocals (tracks 1 & 8-12) & helping to save my actual life
Brian Tate: percussion (track 1)
Chris Hudgins: piano (track 5)
Cullen Sauer: pedal steel guitar (track 3)
Dustin Pedigo: electric bass tracks (1-3, & 6-8), upright bass (4, 9-12), saving my actual life, & whistling (track 12)
Gavin Niebuhr: electric lead guitar (tracks 2, 3, 6-8, & 11), acoustic lead guitar (tracks 9 & 12), & acoustic rhythm guitar (track 10)
Greg Cook: harmonica (track 2)
Jacky Howard: saxophone (track 1)
Jaden Potts: drums (tracks 1-3 & 6-9) & spoons (track 10)
Morgan Reatherford: harmony vocals (track 3)
Theodora Ruschell: vocals (tracks 4 &6)
Additional Audio Credit
Stuart Moody: recording engineer (tracks 2, 7, & 8)
They Fly From Me
Pat Hardy’s sophomore effort, They Fly From Me, foremost feels like an artist becoming increasingly comfortable in his own skin. Unlike the debut record, where the influence of Jack White and Jason Molina are especially present, this record sounds increasingly like Pat himself. The album was recorded mostly at the house in Lubbock he shared with Hayden Spears, alongside the recording of Spears’ album Mountain of Lies (also produced, recorded, and mixed by Pat). Furthermore, one can feel the increasing intimacy of the musical style as the cast of musicians.
The album moves quickly between hope and despair, catching the listener with the resounding hope of I Can’t Wait Until the Morning, then two songs later dragging the listener to the depths of despair with God’s Flower. The record continues to bring its listener through the journey of a heartbreak with Hold a Torch wherein Pat brings vulnerability and honesty in his treatment of dealing with depression and offers the hope of holding a torch in the dark night. Pat then brings us further into his struggle between the great pulls of his heart: God and Women on Waiting’ Here All Night. Then hope and despair get their most stark juxtaposition on Song for a Crying Girl as Pat sings about trying to comfort a crying girl over with the backdrop of contemplating the evils this world is capable of.
The windows open and the sun comes in with Sparrow at My Window, a song that was mostly written while Pat was still in High School. One can then feel the muse shift as Pat goes from singing about unrequited love to singing about a love that refused to spark. Dizzy Love Song brings the spin of the troughs of a split love. The split quickly ends with Trying to Let You Go a duet with Ashley Pedigo. Pat continues to look for the light of hope in (Hayden Spears’ Favorite song on the record) The Well in the Ocean. The record hits its zenith with Spin and Turn, which has a music video made by Kyle Inman. The spin now takes over the loss of both the unrequited and the unsparked love. Finally, the record ends with the allegorical murder ballad Bridegroom.
Despair and hope end in death and love.
Credits
All songs written by Pat, except track 14 with Dustin Pedigo.
Pat Hardy: acoustic guitar (tracks 1-10 & 13), electric guitar (tracks 4, 13, & 14), resonator guitar (tracks 11 & 12), slide guitar (tracks 1, 2, & 4), dobro (track 8), bass (tracks 8 & 12), drums (track 6), bouzouki (track 2), organ (tracks 2, 11, & 12), poetry reading (track 4), tambourine (track 9 & 14), hope and despair (tracks 1-14), lap steel (track 14), pedal steel (track 10), & spoons (track 14)
Allison Seekins: electric guitar (tracks 1, 3, & 9) & violin (track 3)
Angela Crowson: harmony vocal (tracks 8 &9)
Ashley B Pedigo: vocal (track 10) & harmony vocal (tracks 1, 4, 5, & 6)
Brandon Minor: ambient meme content (track 1)
Daniel Moreno: drums (tracks 3 &4)
Dustin Pedigo: bass (tracks 1, 3-6, 13, & 14)
Greg Cook: harmonica (track 14)
Hayden Spears: production (track 1), piano (tracks 1, 4, 6, 10, & 13), drums (tracks 1, 8, & 9), mandolin (track 8), guitar (7), banjo (tracks 8 &14), & melodica (track 5)
Jaden Potts: drums (track 5)
John McConnell: drums (tracks 13 & 14)
Luke Ellis: 12-string guitar (track 5), bass (track 9), & organ effects (track 11)
Luke McDonald: electric guitar (track 5)
Morgan Reatherford: harmony vocal (tracks 1, 9, 12, & 13) & voicemails (track 12)
Additional Audio Credits
Recording assistants: Hayden Spears & Luke Ellis
Thanks to Stuart Moody for mixing guidance
Thanks to Dolf Guardiola for mastering guidance
Bridegroom
The single version of Bridegroom was released on an overcast and drizzling Halloween day in the year 2020. This single was the preamble to Pat’s album They Fly From Me. Yet the single stands as a piece unto itself. In the microcosm of the single the narrator carries on into the next song. The unrestrained longing of the B-side “Every Song for You” seems as if it could be an echoing confession from the cell our narrator ended up in; haunted by the loss that irreparably marked his life.
Credits
Tracks 1 & 2 written by Pat Hardy; track 1 written with Dustin Pedigo
Pat Hardy: vocals, electric guitar, lap steel guitar, & aggression (track 1); vocals, acoustic guitar, & repentance (track 2)
Allison Seekins: electric guitar (track 1)
Dustin Pedigo: upright bass (track 1)
Greg Cook: harmonica (track 1)
Hayden Spears: banjo (track 1)
John McConnell: drums (track 1)
Notre Dame
The single version of “Notre Dame” and its B-side “Song for a Crying Girl” represent the bridge between Pat’s first two albums. Recorded entirely in his apartment in Lubbock, TX with overdubs offered by Hayden Spears, this single was birthed by lamplight and the stillness of night after the traffic of the loop quieted down.
Credits
All songs written by Pat Hardy
Pat Hardy: vocals, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, organ, slide guitar, & reckless hope (track 1); vocals, acoustic guitars, bass, lap steel, & feeble attempts (track 2)
Hayden Spears: percussion, mandolin, & piano (track 2)
Mastered by Lucas Tomblin
Insomniac Lullabies
With Insomniac Lullabies Pat Hardy offered his first collection of songs. Recorded mostly at a studio in Levelland, TX as Pat refined his recording and musical skills, one can hear the organic and forlorn style starting to break through.
Featuring songs like Blue Evening Dress dating back to Pat’s time in high school or The Sun Rises from his first semester in college one can hear the beginnings of a songwriter finding his voice. Often time Pat finds his voice through vulnerability, as in the one song he was apprehensive to release “Another Man’s Wife.”
The ensemble of musicians this album sports includes Lubbock legends like Stevie “Guitar” Williams, Darren Welch, and Mike Carraway; and rising Nashville stars like Morgan Reatherford; and plenty of Pat’s friends.
The recording and mixing was done mostly by Pat himself. The mastering was all done by Pat at the studios in Levelland. All culminating in an album that stands as more than just a step toward better things, rather as a raw look into the beginnings of a artist.
Credits
All songs written by Pat Hardy; track 6 with words by Charles Bukowski, track 4 edited by Kaitlynn Edwards, & track 9 written with Kyle McDuffey
Pat Hardy: vocal, acoustic guitar, lap steel (track 1); vocal, acoustic guitar, & piano (track 2); vocal, acoustic guitars, organ, bass, & slide guitar (track 3); vocal, twelve string acoustic guitar, cigar box guitar, & bass (track 4); vocal, acoustic guitar, tenor banjo, dobro, bass, background vocals, and electric slide guitar (track 5); vocal & acoustic guitar (track 6); vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, & mandolin (track 7); vocal, acoustic guitar, & lap steel guitar (track 8); vocal & acoustic guitar (track 9, 10, & 11); vocal, electric guitar, & lap steel guitar (track 12)
Angela Crowson: harmony vocal (track 1)
Brady Gandy: upright bass (tracks 2 & 11)
Brandon Minor: drums (tracks 7 & 11)
Collin Ellis: tambourine (track 12)
Cullen Sauer: pedal steel guitar (track 3)
Danny Moreno: drums (track 4)
Darren Welch: slide guitar (track 11)
Dillon Mitchell: drums (track 2)
Ed Marsh: fiddle (track 7)
Greg Cook: harmonica (track 12)
Hayden Spears: mandolin (track 10)
Jennifer Feddes: accordion (track 1)
John McConnell: drums (track 12)
Kaitlynn Edwards: harmony vocal (track 4)
Kameryn Stanaland: harmony vocal (track 11)
Luke Ellis: piano (track 10)
Matt Cross: upright bass (track 1)
Mike Carraway: electric slide guitar (track 9)
Morgan Reatherford: harmony vocal (track 7)
Payton Adams: tambourine & harmony vocals (track 4)
Steve “Guitar” Williams: electric guitar (track 12)
Ty Eason: bass (tracks 8 & 9); drums (track 9)
Zach Edwards: floor tom (track 4)
Additional audio credits
Eric Ramos and Cullen Sauer produced tracks 2 & 9
Greyson McAlister mixed track 12
Dolf Guardiola master track 9
Fallen From Grace
Fallen From Grace was an EP written, recorded and mixed by Pat while he was still in high school. The EP is only available on Soundcloud.
Credits
All songs written by Pat Hardy
All instruments played by Pat Hardy