Nowhere in music is a fork in the road more apparent right now than south of the Mason-Dixon. When bro-country got pushed to the outskirts of Nashville conversation, it created a schism maybe not fully realized initially, but what’s grown from those cracks is regarded now as commonplace without a second glance.

Authenticity reigns king and simplicity — in more ways than one — has made its grand return to the forefront of that “three chords and the truth” hypothesis proposed by Harlen Howard all those years ago. Guys like Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers weep and wail over chord progressions that act as almost settings to the story they’re telling.

On the other side of music row, that legitimacy is being proven in a bigger, louder, more alcohol-induced sense. Koe Wetzel’s given us rock ballads of averted DUI’s, Morgan Wallen’s raspy baritone has successfully swooned enough women as his discography claims he does. Authentic, to be sure, but much more boisterous about it. Across the street from our aforementioned lonesome cowboys, it seems there’s a redneck rager commencing, all in the name of real country revival.

For now, the headliner of this whiskey-fest seems to be songwriting guru and performance newcomer Michael Wilson Hardy. Mississippi native and Morgan Wallen associate, Hardy has been in the shadows and songwriting credits of country music for a few years now. The penman behind Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” Hardy’s sense of awareness is one of his most prominent muscles, and one he’s eager to flex all over his second and newest studio album, “the mockingbird & THE CROW.”

17 songs clocking in at 61 minutes gives more than enough time to familiarize yourself with Hardy’s stab at authenticity, and how that jab threw him back into his roots as it does to so many.

Its Puddle of Mudd griminess mixed with Jason Aldean twang all marinated in a Guns N’ Roses hair band coating. A no holds barred look from a country bumpkin more likely to be found on Broadway than around the bonfire on a Friday night, and one that undoubtedly will see some heads turn in the directions of its screams.

The record commences with sincerities from country music’s second favorite beverage: beer. A wade into ideas cemented later into the records runtime, this first and lower-cased half of “the mockingbird & THE CROW” makes a solid effort at easing into some eventual swings for the fences later on.

“Red” paints a pretty crimson picture of some unnamed place of origin, here accompanied by Big Loud associate Morgan Wallen. Hardy’s tube-float down the country music lazy river isn’t all for naught, however. The halfway mark of the record sees “here lies country music” used almost as a parting from the traditionality of staples in the genre abused by so many.

The record’s title track, “the mockingbird & THE CROW” only doubles down on this meta-hillbilly thesis. Hardy here comparing himself to an animal infamous for its abilities in mimicry, the CROW portion of the track seems to be a pushback from that notion. Ultimately the turning point of the record, and the fork in the road is thus made apparent.

The second half of “the mockingbird & THE CROW” should come as no surprise, yet its ability to rattle the confines of country music still knocks the wind out of you. Hardy’s affinity for the aptly named “butt-rock” is no secret — he’s gone on record citing Stone Temple Pilots and the infamous Nickelback as inspirations in his work. Here, however, that influence morphs into something completely different.

With an earthquake of an entrance, “SOLD OUT” gives a brash telling of the side of musicianship more akin to Hardy’s speed, while still holding onto the things that made him who he is.

Where his contemporaries have chosen to shave scraggly beards and clean the dirt from under their fingernails, Hardy is perfectly fine with fingers in the mud and ungroomed facial hair. To him, there’s no reason country music should have to clean up its act in the name of staying relevant. And what better sonic playground to test these waters than one of the most lovably obnoxious genres of music in recent memory? A neo-Three Days Grace album probably wasn’t on anyone’s 2023 bingo card, but again, it feels like it should’ve been expected.

Hardy’s “the mockingbird & THE CROW”ultimately serves as a new litmus test for what the boundaries of this genre can be. Where guys like Koe Wetzel and Morgan Wallen poked the beehive, Hardy’s newest effort just straight up bludgeons it with a baseball bat.

Regardless of what kind of precedent a true country music and early 2000’s hard rock album sets for the future, it’s an experiment that needed conducting, and Hardy was the perfect candidate. He’s aware enough to see the amusement, yet serious enough in his craft to not have it turn into an automatic gimmick like so many attempts at Nashville genre-blending in years prior.

Three chords and the truth may have turned into power chords and chain wallets, but country music might just be all the better for it.