It’s no secret that HARDY takes immense pride in where he grew up. The 35-year-old country music rocker hails from Philadelphia, Mississippi, and he’s dedicated some of his songs to the way he was raised.
Take, for example, “Buck On The Wall” and “Bottomland.” But it’s not just his music that pays homage to his roots. HARDY also has a growing list of tattoos on his arm that he says celebrate his hometown.
On a recent episode of State Farm Neighborhood Beats with Jimmy Fallon, HARDY showcased his impressive arm sleeve of tattoos and opened up about the meaning behind his body art, which ranges from the state flower to the word “home” inked across his knuckles.
“I wanted to dedicate this arm to just like my hometown or just home in general,” HARDY told Jimmy Fallon, reflecting on his journey from Mississippi to Nashville to pursue his country music dreams.
He pointed out some of the ink across his forearm, saying, “So Magnolias, Mississippi’s a Magnolia state. My high school mascot was the Rockets. My dad was a chicken farmer growing up. This is my favorite snake. There’s a snake called the Eastern mud snake. It’s really beautiful, and we have a lot of them back home. They’re kind of rare, but growing up in the swamp, you see a lot of ’em.”
HARDY also showed off a “Mississippi State cowbell” tattoo, telling Fallon, “If you’re a college football guy, I’m sure you’ve probably heard of that at some point.”
He added, “Everything is in pine trees now, so pine cones, Mockingbird, and then I got ‘home’ across my knuckles.”
After Fallon asked the “Six Feet Under” singer if people often mistake him for being from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, HARDY shared that he proudly calls himself “the hillbilly from the real Philly” and shared a unique highlight about his hometown—the Neshoba County Fair.
“Dude, it’s a great small town. People who are from there are very prideful,” he said. “It’s got a few quirks about it that make it very different from other small towns…. The Neshoba County Fair, which is inside the county lines, is the coolest thing.”
HARDY; Photo Courtesy of Tanner Gallagher
He described the fair, which he spent a lot of time at as a kid, as “a pure piece of Americana, southern tradition that, for some reason, the country hasn’t really discovered yet.”
Explaining what makes the fair stand out, HARDY said, “Basically, long story short, the entire town and county area shuts down for a week in the summer, and they move into these cabins, which are all family-owned. They’ve all been in families for like a hundred years, and you just stay out there. It’s such a southern tradition thing.”
He also shared details about the food and the safe, family-friendly atmosphere, saying, “Everybody has a night where they cook, and they cook the most just terrible-for-you food, but it’s the most delicious. People are partying. People are having drinks and cocktails, but it’s very safe. The kids, each cabin has a number, and the parents will write the cabin number on the kid and just turn ’em loose. There are water balloon fights.”
HARDY; Photo Courtesy of Tanner Gallagher
Reflecting on the fair’s uniqueness, HARDY admitted he no longer takes it for granted.
He said, “It’s just, it’s such a special thing. I grew up doing it and always thought, ‘Well, I’m sure there’s something else like this in the world.’ And then having toured and played every county fair in the country, I’m like, ‘Wow, this is actually really special.’”
The fair’s significance even inspired the award-winning singer/songwriter’s first tattoo on his home-dedication arm.
“My first one was, speaking of the county fair, this is a bracelet, and this is your admission ticket to the Neshoba County Fair,” he explained, pointing out the red tattoo around his wrist. “It looks just like that, a plastic bracelet.”
“They change color every year,” he said before joking. “Unfortunately, if it were red, I might get away with sneaking into the year.”
