Country singer HARDY helped a soldier who had been overseas for over a year reunite with his family at a recent concert, sharing the emotional moment in an Instagram video with fans this week. The clip started with HARDY telling the camera that he’d be helping a soldier named Richard Kelly surprise his family after Kelly had been overseas for around 400 days.
“We made his family think that they’ve won a VIP thing where they get to hang out backstage,” HARDY continued. “But little do they know, at the end of ‘Give Heaven Some Hell,’ I’m gonna give a little speech about our military, and that we’re honoring this family. I’m gonna have them walk out to the front and wave to everybody and say, ‘You know, there’s a lot of people like this tonight that don’t get to see their loved ones that are in the military for a long time.’”
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“And we’re gonna sneak him out and surprise them onstage and it’s gonna be awesome,” the singer continued. “I’ve never been more nervous in my life to do anything. It’s gonna be sick.” The footage then cut to the middle of HARDY’s set when he invited the family to make their way to the front of the stage. As the 30-year-old launched into his speech, Kelly walked out on stage to surprise his family members, one of whom immediately wrapped him in a hug as the crowd cheered.
The post received a number of comments from HARDY’s fellow country artists including Thomas Rhett, who wrote, “Man this is incredible.” “Holy s— dude,” added Hailey Whitters. “This is strong.” Mitchell Tenpenny wrote, “F— yes,” Dierks Bentley declared the clip “So awesome” and Miranda Lambert posted a series of emojis. RaeLynn wrote, “So sweet!” and Travis Denning commented, “Absolutely damn awesome.”
“Give Heaven Some Hell” is HARDY’s current single and appears on his 2020 debut album, A Rock. Last year, the singer told PopCulture.com that the song is “about losing a friend and kind of, your hope that they’re up there doing all right.” The Mississippi native has officially made his return to live performances and will soon take “Give Heaven Some Hell” and the rest of his hits on the road when he joins Jason Aldean on the country star’s upcoming Back in the Saddle Tour, which begins in early August.
