The last week of January mysterious, intriguing posts popped up on HARDY, Tim McGraw, Morgan Wallen and Eric Church’s social media, each with a different first name and shared McArthur last name against a grainy background, birth and (except for Wallen’s) death dates and a red squiggly line like an EKG heartbeat.
Fans and journalists had fun speculating what the project could be until it was revealed last Friday (Jan. 30) upon the song’s release that the three stars had collaborated with HARDY on “McArthur,” the somber new track that addresses legacy and asks, “When you pass on, what you gonna pass down?”
HARDY co-wrote the song, which features four generations of McArthur men, including two from the grave, singing proudly about the land they own and passing it down. McGraw opens the song as patriarch John McArthur, followed by Church as his son Junior McArthur, who dies in Vietnam before he can meet his son, Jones McArthur, sung by HARDY, who tries to convince his son, Hunter McArthur, voiced by Wallen, not to let go of the land. The song concludes with Hunter ready to sell until he hears a “whisper in the pines” that may or may not be the spirit of his great-grandfather.
Before heading back on tour on Thursday (Feb. 5), HARDY hopped on the phone with Billboard on Monday (Feb. 2) to talk creating and recording the Jay Joyce-produced song, and if there’s more from the McArthur men to come.
When did you and your co-writers, Chase McGill, Jameson Rodgers, Josh Thompson, write the song and how did the concept come about?
I wrote it back in October. My wife and I have a beach house in Florida, and I just finished a tour, so we decided to spend the month there and I was like, “I’d love to do some writing while I’m here, and so I talked to some co writers into doing some zoom writes.
Jameson Rogers is really good at making song starts and he actually had a verse about, “I’m John McArthur, and I worked this dirt” and he had a little bit of the backbone of this thing. I take no credit for the concept coming to life. Chase McGill was the one that was like, “You know, what if we made it to where each verse was a different generation and we’re trying to hang on to this land?” I was in once I heard that. I love songs like that. Once we got the concept, we just dug in.
How did the idea come about to cast it with different singers to represent the different generations?
A few days after we wrote the song, I was listening to [the demo] over and over and I just on a whim sent it to Eric Church. I’ve gotten to know him pretty good and we’ll send each other song ideas. I just said, “Man, you and I and a couple other people should do this song together.” He immediately hit me back and was like, “Dude, I love this. Let’s get Morgan on it. And then we need, like an OG, like a heavy, heavy hitter, to play John.” And so, we threw some names around. Tim was the main guy the whole time and so sent it to Tim, and Tim immediately said, “I’m in” and it worked out like a dream. We really got lucky with everything. Then we were off to the races.
In March, you talked about how Tim was on your wish list to have him sing a song you wrote, but you hadn’t come up with the right song for him.
Tim, I just could not get him to bite on anything. And that’s what makes Tim Tim. He’s always had such amazing songs. He’s very picky, because he’s just got a career of phenomenal songs, and so I took that as like a challenge for me to get him to bite on something — and finally he did. So, it’s definitely a bucket-list moment for me.
Given your and Morgan’s friendship, was he an instant yes, even though he’s been quiet for a bit?
I sent him the song, and I just said, “Hey, Eric is in. I’m obviously in. We need one more, but do you want to do this with us?” And it was an instant yes.
The song deliberately leaves it vague as to if Hunter ultimately sells the land after he hears the voice in the pines. What do you think happens?
I would hope that he doesn’t sell. I think that everybody hopes he doesn’t sell. But I love that we leave it open to interpretation. It’s like, if you’ve ever seen [Christopher Nolan’s movie] Inception, at the very end, [Leonardo DiCaprio’s character] spins the top to see if he’s still dreaming, and then the movie ends, and you never really know. That’s kind of the way the song ends, and I like it that way. You can decide what you think Hunter does at the end.
Can you get Christopher Nolan to direct the video?
I would love that. [Laughs.]
Are you thinking about a video?
We are, but I’m not sure that we would play the characters. I’m not really sure how that would work. We’ve tossed around some ideas like to make it a longer video and have real actors and actresses come in, but we haven’t made a ton of headway, so I’m not quite sure yet.
Is there going to be a full album coming from the four of you? Could this be like The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson?
We have definitely thrown out the idea. It will take a lot of work, and it’s obviously four people that are heavy hitters and very busy. But, for the record, I would love to expand on this concept, truly. So the discussion has been had. There is no confirmation that it will happen, but we talked about it and if we could all somehow get together and have some time to write a storyline or the rest of a record than I would love for that to happen.
It feels like there could be so much more here to be mined, almost like a Taylor Sheridan TV series spanning across the four generations. There could be a whole world here you could expand upon in so many ways.
That’s sort of the world that we’ve talked about: different family members, did the McArthurs have brothers? Why did the other brother not get the land or the other sister? All of that kind of stuff we’ve definitely talked about and how much you could expand on that story. I’m hoping it comes to life one day, but, yes, it has definitely been in discussion.
Were all four of you in the studio together with Jay Joyce?
Yes, and it was super cool. I’ve never worked with Jay before. He cut it live. He was very different than the way that I’ve cut sessions with Joey [Moi]. There were very minimal musicians in the room, and then we had microphones set up and we all just stood up there and sang. It was very, very cool and a very bucket-list, pinch-me moment for me. Just thinking about the room I was in with the influence that the people in that room have had on the world and country music.
The song talks about what we pass down. Since you became a dad in March, do you think more about what you’re going to pass down?
Of course, yeah, absolutely. I think about it a lot. I’m an avid deer hunter, and our deer hunting land in Mississippi has been in our family for a very, very long time, and I’ve been able to obtain some of that, but I’ve also been able to, very thankfully, expand on it a little bit. And I’m just very excited that that land will continue to be passed down in my family. I think about that a lot because I take a lot of pride in it.
You addressed some of the same themes about generational legacy, loss and, especially, death on your most recent album Country Country on songs like “Buck on the Wall” and “We’re All Gonna Die.” Do you see “McArthur” as a progression of what we were hearing on that album?
I would like to say that. This song is sort of closing thoughts to that concept. I’ve definitely lived in that headspace a lot over the last… well, just writing for the Country, Country record, but I’m moving on from that, and it’s time to focus on living a little bit more than dying. I like to see “McArthur” as a period to the end of that sentence and just sort of moving on from that concept.
Is the McArthur name a salute to famed World War II General George McArthur?
Apparently, a buddy of Jameson Rogers is actually named John MacArthur. It’s a friend of his that’s a farmer. Jameson, just one day out of the blue, was like, “I’m going to put my buddy in the song.”
After the four of you posted the cryptic memes teasing what turned out to be the song, your wife Caleigh took to social media letting people know that it was your song when she felt you weren’t getting enough of the credit given McGraw, Church and Wallen’s involvement. She was looking out for her man, which must have made you feel good.
It felt good. She really defended me, and I was very thankful for that. It’s easy to be like, “No, it’s okay.” That was a moment where I wanted to say something, but I felt like I needed to let someone else say it for me and I was honored that my wife did that for me. It really meant a lot to me.
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