“What You Gonna Pass Down?”: Hardy Shares First Teaser Of “McArthur” Featuring Morgan Wallen, Eric Church & Tim McGraw
A story about family and legacy. Earlier this week, four of country music’s biggest stars sent fans into a frenzy when they all posted corresponding cryptic posts on Instagram, hinting at some sort of collaboration. Eric Church, Morgan Wallen, Tim McGraw and Hardy all shared graphics that featured names of the McArthur family with birth and death dates (for some), and the dates seem to line up to create some sort of family tree.
They all gave hints as to what the concept for the song would be, sharing different graphics on Instagram with names of four different people with the same last name like so:
“Hunter McArthur. b. May 13, 1993.”
Theories about the deeper meaning of it all have been flowing in, and it’s clear to me it’s going to hold a lot of historical significance. Many of the dates mark very important moments across American history, whether it’s World War II events, a Martin Luther King Jr. speech, or the assassination of John F. Kennedy… you can read much more about that HERE.
For right now, we know there’s at least one song dropping at midnight called “McArthur,” which was previously registered with the ASCAP and is credited to Hardy, Chase McGill, Jameson Rodgers and Joshua Dennis Anthony Bagles, which seems to be a pen name for songwriter Josh Thompson:
A fan also found a graphic with the McArthur family tree on Eric Church’s app, which gives a lot more detail about each family member. I can’t personally find this graphic on the app, so it remains unverified, but it certainly looks legit and fits within some kind of likely “McArthur Family” narrative. It’s giving Yellowstone/Dutton family vibes. Even if it’s a fan-made graphic, it’s helpful to see it all laid out this way considering it’s just the basic information that corresponds to the already-shared graphics.
It shows the artist that corresponds with each character, and gives their birthday and applicable death dates, along with the major historical event that corresponds with their life. It doesn’t include all of the historical events that fit the dates involved, however. In addition, we have their “implied roles” in the story:
“Patriarch/origin. The founding generation: America’s loss of innocence.
Second generation/inherited burden. Post-war child shaped by unrest.
The bridge generation: carries trauma into the modern era.
Living POV/final chapter: the one who can break or repeat the cycle.”
It’s obvious that a ton of work, thought and attention to detail has gone into this, and I’m excited for all to be revealed:
And finally, as of this morning, we have out first teaser for what the song actually sounds like, as Hardy shared a collab post with the other artists that features mostly Morgan’s vocals on this part of the song, though the others do come in at the end here.
He sings about his bloodline and the legacy one leaves behind, and I love the sentiment of it already:
“Sayin my bloodline, it bled in this ground,
Soon we all find that’s where we’re bound,
And father time don’t leave anyone out,
When you pass, what you gonna pass down?”
It remains to be seen exactly how all of the names and dates they shared play into this song, but I imagine it might end up being a more extensive project and this could be just the first track, which is out everywhere tonight.
I even hear some fiddle in there… check it out:
The post “What You Gonna Pass Down?”: Hardy Shares First Teaser Of “McArthur” Featuring Morgan Wallen, Eric Church & Tim McGraw first appeared on Whiskey Riff.