Cole Hardin was born in Altus, Oklahoma in 1988 and hasn’t moved far from the dirt he came up on.
He currently lives off-grid outside Claremore on a small homestead — cattle, horses, a mobile home that suits him fine. Thirty-seven years old with a body that carries its history: a scar running rib to belly from a fence post that won a disagreement with a horse, a leg broken twice that never quite healed straight. He walks bow-legged and stands tall. That’s the whole biography right there if you’re paying attention.
He learned guitar the way most people do in poor towns — because someone had one and nobody had anything else to do. His people were mixed: cowboys, farmers, Mexican families who became family. His best friend growing up was Carlos. He picked up Spanish somewhere in that dusty mix — an education that’s never left him.
The music he lends his voice to is Outlaw Soul — outlaw country, traditional country, folk and modern — depending on the song and what it needs. Raw baritone. Guitar, bass, harmonica. George Strait’s discipline, Cash’s weight, Garth’s reach. Stories about himself, stories about others. The bill always comes due in a Cole Hardin song. He just makes sure you understand why before it does.
He doesn’t perform a lesson. He tells you what happened and lets you work it out.
Cole Hardin is APRA AMCOS registered and released through Seeker James Publishing.