Morgan Wallen Said He’s ‘Just Fortunate’ to Work With Ernest and HARDY
Morgan Wallen released One Thing at a Time in 2023, an album created with the help of co-writers ERNEST and HARDY. During an interview with the All Country Podcast, the musician detailed working with the artists, calling it an āeasy flow of creativity.ā Hereās what we now about the āI Wrote the Bookā songwriter.
Morgan Wallen works on music with ERNEST and HARDYĀ
Wallen has several impressive songwriter friends, ERNEST and HARDY being the most notable. Recently, ERNEST and HARDY earned songwriting credits on Wallenās One Thing at a Time ā the chart-topping album with 36 tracks.Ā
HARDY is credited under his real name, Michael Hardy, as a co-writer for āTennesse Fan,ā while ERNEST is listed as a co-writer (under Ernest Keith Smith) for the albumās title track.Ā
HARDY, Cameron Montgomery, and Wallen worked together for one of the most popular songs from One Thing at a Time, āI Wrote the Book.ā For one podcast interview, the āLast Nightā singer described working with ERNEST and HARDY.Ā
Morgan Wallen describes working with his team as an āeasy flow of creativityā
While discussing his collaborative process, Wallen noted other songwritersā impact on his music, calling it an āeasy flow of creativityā during an interview with the All Country Podcast.Ā
āYou can look at my album, you can look at HARDYās album, you can look at Ernestās album, and itās just a lot of music thatās coming out,ā Wallen said around the 7-minute mark.Ā
āIām just fortunate to be in a group of people like that,ā he noted. āThis record is just a representation of all of that camaraderie, that friendship, and everything that comes from that.ā
Other songwriters on Wallenās team include Miranda Lambert, who co-wrote āThought You Should Knowā off the 2023 release.Ā
How did Morgan Wallen meet Ernest and HARDY?
Wallen and ERNEST met each other before their music stardom. As noted by Billboard, ERNEST and Wallen met in 2015 at a party thrown by Craig Wiseman ā the Big Loud co-founder and songwriter.Ā
The artists followed one another on Instagram and, according to the same source, learned they āhad competed against each other on opposing high school baseball teams ā Knoxvilleās Gibbs High School (Wallen) against Nashvilleās David Lipscomb High School (now Lipscomb Academy) (ERNEST).ā
āThey beat us and went on to win State [in 2010], and then we beat them for State [in 2011],ā ERNEST said in the Billboard interview. āSo, technically, we met in 2015, but we had been rivals before we were friends.ā
HARDY and ERNEST met through Florida Georgia Line around 2017, around the same time Wallen and HARDY began writing together.Ā
Today, each songwriter continues to release music as a solo artist, sometimes featuring one another on originals. That includes 2021ās āFlower Shopsā by ERNEST, which features Wallen.