He might be an unconventional commencement speaker, but Hardy nailed his address to the graduating class of his alma mater, Middle Tennessee State University, with real talk.

Hardy admitted that he couldn’t share all of his memories, but does recall being kicked out of the community pond for gigging frogs and having his debit card declined at local eatery and college hang-out, Toot’s, when he tried to pay for his catfish basket.

In true songwriter fashion, he also poetically told the students that they had read the final chapter in a book they thought would never end, and he offered them encouragement reminding them that he had been there just ten years earlier.

Hardy earned his degree in songwriting through the school’s Recording Industry Management program.