Laine Hardy's Smokey 'Swingin'' Honors Country Great John Anderson

Laine Hardy had no trouble finding the swampy shuffle that drives "Swingin'," John Anderson's hit song from 1983. The American Idol winner and current Taste of Country RISER chose this iconic country standard as his cover and the song that closes his three-month run as ToC's premier artist to watch.

Harmonica fills and double solos punctuate a performance that illustrates not only Laine Hardy the singer, but also the talented band leader from Livingston, La. Any recreation of "Swingin'" relies on one taking full ownership of the story of Charlotte Johnson. Hardy sings it like he grew up right down the street from her.

Laine Hardy is the second RISER of 2020, following the Cadillac Three and a long break from the series, thanks to the pandemic. Caylee Hammack, Riley Green, Jimmie Allen and Cody Johnson made up the class of 2019, joining Morgan Wallen Lindsay Ell and Brett Young from previous years. The quarterly franchise includes personal performances of an original and cover song, plus exclusive insight into what makes each artist special.

Taste of Country is the No. 1 country music site on the web with 40 million monthly page views, 2.1 million Facebook fans, 372K Twitter followers, 391K Instagram followers, and 441K YouTube subscribers. Our coverage - in addition to Taste of Country Nights, a nightly radio show hosted by Evan Rose - is syndicated to more than 100 country music radio stations nationwide.

A native of Livingston, Louisiana (pop. 2,000) Laine Hardy was six when he picked up his first guitar and later joined his brother playing in local clubs and bars for upwards of six hours a night, inspired by artists ranging from Morgan Wallen to Luke Combs and Elvis Presley to Mark Broussard. After winning American Idol in 2019, Laine focused on songwriting and touring, headlining shows in Denver, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Minneapolis, Lexington and more. Laine's 2020 "Ground I Grew Up On" virtual tour, made over 15 online stops to date, with views at 2 Million and counting, with plans to continue into 2021.

While Louisiana is home, Nashville is where he is destined to be. There he met producer Michael Knox (Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett) and the pair went to work on several new sides releasing in 2020. His new single, "Tiny Town" (Michael Tyler) was released on July 10, and tracks "Ground I Grew Up On" (Brandon Kinney, Josh Thompson, Brett Beavers) and "Let There Be Country" (Jason Afable, Steve Moakler, Tim Nichols) were released April 10 on Buena Vista Records / Industrial Media's 19 Recordings, earning Laine a Taste of Country RISER designation. The new songs tell the stories of Laine's childhood on the bayou where on an average day you'll find him fishing, riding his four wheeler, spending time with his family, dogs, and feasting on jambalaya or his Korean grandmother's homemade kimchi.

Laine released his take on the Christmas classic, "Please Come Home For Christmas" on September 18, as well as brand-new track "Other LA" on Oct 9. The song is written by Laine with Andy Sheridan, Erik Dylan and Dan Isbell.

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