Marissa R. Moss
View all posts by Marissa R. Moss July 31, 2026
Stephen Wilson Jr. recruits Miranda Lambert for the new song "Hardwired." Taylor Hill/Getty Images; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images/ACM Stephen Wilson Jr.’s brand of country — especially his deep, emotive voice and love of a good acoustic guitar riff — has always conjured up a bit of bygone-era alt-rock. On his new song “Hardwired,” he recruits Miranda Lambert for a blue-collar anthem that goes there literally, interpolating the Pixies’ disarming “Where Is My Mind?” from their debut LP, Surfer Rosa.
Using both the familiar riff and eerie chorus, Wilson creates a world where constant hard living and exhaustion can often push a body and mind to the edge. Watch the appropriately early-MTV-esque visualizer, directed by Jace Kartye, below.
“I’m very much an indie-rock kid at heart,” the former microbiologist told Rolling Stone. “But I’m a country songwriter. I write songs from a rural perspective and a blue-collar perspective.”
“Hardwired,” written by Wilson, Lambert, Jesse Frasure, and Adam Hood, is another exploration into the working-class condition from the Rolling Stone Future 25 artist, whose song “Gary” tracked the kind of guy with an unglamorous name whose equally unglamorous labor is the quiet, forgotten heartbeat of American life. Both tracks are expected to be included on the follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed Son of Dad LP.
