When you think about the most recent great debut albums in Country music you think of Kip Moore’s ‘Up All Night’, of Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Same Trailer, Different Park’, Ashley McBryde’s ‘Girl Going Nowhere’ and Luke Combs’ ‘This One’s For You’. Well, there’s a new name and a new album to add to that list because Megan Moroney’s version of emo-cowgirl Country, sad-girl Country, call it what you will, that she introduced to the world on her debut album, ‘Lucky’, earlier in the year is that good.
That was the opening paragraph to our 4.5 star review of Megan Moroney’s debut album, which you can read here if you missed it the first time around. Moroney secured her debut number one with ‘Tennessee Orange’, knocking the behemoth that is Morgan Wallen off the top spot and she has just made her first trip across the Atlantic to debut in the UK at The Long Road festival, augmented by some headline shows of her own. We were thrilled to grab some time with Megan to talk all about it at the festival.
Lovely to talk to you today, Megan, how’s the jet-lag!!??
I’m still not used to the time change! (laughing) I’m not getting to sleep till around 3am UK time (which would be 9pm CT) and I had to wake up today at 7am to be able to get to the festival in good time! We came in on Wednesday, on the overnight flight, so I stayed up all day and tried to go to bed at a proper time. I tried to sleep on the plane but someone was sitting next to me on the middle aisle of a 2-3-2 set up and they sat in the middle seat next to me when the other aisle seat was empty! Like, why wouldn’t you move over in a situation like that? (laughing) A stranger was kind of cuddling up with me so I didn’t really get any sleep! (laughing)
And then when the person in front of you puts their seat back…………….
Oh yeah! When I fly I always try and avoid the back row because you can’t lean your seat back if the person in front does there’s and there is just no space! I never lean my seat back on a flight unless the person in front of me does it first, so it’s their fault if I have to! (laughing)
Are you doing any sightseeing whilst you are here?
We’ve been to Wales already. We saw Conway Castle, which was cool. We are also heading up to Edinburgh in Scotland too, that’s a big road trip tomorrow after the festival. I play my third show of the day tonight at 10.30pm and then we have a 5-6 hour drive up to Edinburgh tomorrow!
Tickets to your UK shows have been like gold dust. All I see on Facebook groups are people begging for either Luke Combs tickets or Megan Moroney tickets. How does that make you feel?
That’s so crazy! It’s insane. Everybody sings ‘Tennessee Orange’, which is still crazy to me because it’s a song I wrote about SEC football and, to begin with, even Country radio in the USA was telling us that they didn’t know if the song would even translate across to people in Texas, let alone anywhere else in the world!
The fact that I can come to a different country and sell out shows and watch the people singing not only ‘Tennessee Orange’, but all my other songs too is just crazy!
There were lots of fans in the crowd earlier with Vols hats and shirts on and plenty of Georgia Bulldogs shirts too. Here in the UK!
Oh yeah, I saw that! I feel very welcomed over here. I played my first headline show in Manchester last night and I was told before I got here that UK crowds can be quite quiet because they listen intently to the lyrics and let the artists play with a respect that doesn’t always happen elsewhere but they were screaming every word to every song, which I loved!
We last spoke in the week that ‘Tennessee Orange’ was number one. Has that sunk in now, that you are a number one artist. No-one can take that away from you.
A little bit, yeah. It something that is still quite hard to process. Number ones are really hard to get nowadays which makes the achievement all the more crazy! (laughing)
Did you buy yourself a special treat for getting to number one? You did say last time that you’d love to grab some vacation time but looking at your tour schedule I’m not sure that will have happened yet!
So, my friend is getting married soon in Hawaii and I’m going to go celebrate with her and use that as a little, brief, vacation! So far, the only thing I have bought myself to celebrate the number one is a first class flight out there. Just one way! I haven’t bought the way back one yet! (laughing) It’s too expensive and I don’t like to spend a lot of money all at once but I should get the home ticket quite soon! I have shows at CRS in Nashville the week I get back!
Right now, I still do have New Years off but I would be surprised if I still have that off by the time it comes around.
You’ve just released ‘Im Not Pretty’ to radio. I love the video to that song. Is there a slight Barbie influence going on in the colours and and the storylines of that video? The classroom / Maths scene is hilarious.
‘I’m Not Pretty’ came out in February of this year and I’m not sure I knew about the Barbie move back then. The cover is me with the blond wig on and it’s all pink. It wasn’t on purpose to fit with the Barbie film but it hasn’t hurt it, right?
I knew that the ‘Bless your heart’ line was going to be a big moment in that song and so I wanted it to be something really funny. It was a perfect look for the brunettes to be the mean girls and the blond girls to be doing math.
I did see a picture on Instagram of your boot shelves, which was cool. Is that your secret shopping weakness, boots?
Yes, 100%. I love boots and fortunately a lot of places will send me their boots now because they know it is a thing of mine. They see me wearing them and want me to be seen in a pair of their own ones, so I’ll take whatever I’m offered, I’ll take them all! (laughing) (points down at her feet) This is my second pair of boots that I’ve worn today!
I loved watching you play ‘Traitor Joe’ today, that’s one of my favourite songs of yours. Is it difficult to choose what songs to play in a setlist with the ‘Pistol Made of Roses’ EP and ‘Lucky’ album to choose from, particularly at a festival when you have a truncated set compared to a headline show?
All my fans pick different favourite songs, so that does make the setlist choices a little difficult. I’ve got three sets here at the festival today so can swap a few songs in and out and at headline shows I can play a little more of the older, ‘Pistol Made of Roses’ EP. For the most we focus on ‘Lucky’ as there is a big wave of people just discovering it thanks to the success of ‘Tennessee Orange’ and ‘I’m Not Pretty’.
I do always play ‘Hair Salon’, though, from the ‘Pistol Made of Roses’ EP. That’s my favourite song from that EP and I think it works really well with a live crowd. At festivals we tend to throw in a cover or two as well so that even if people hate my music they might hear a song they like from me anyway! (laughing)
You’ve been out on the road with some really big artists this year. Is there any artist you’ve played with that you’ve learned from in terms of stage craft or how they treat their crew and their fans?
I would say probably going out with Brooks and Dunn taught me the most. Their stage presence is amazing and I love the way that they just walk out on stage. They don’t do anything crazy but you can feel their presence from the off. They can captivate an audience so easily and they aren’t playing anything really new either, it’s their classic songs, but you can feel their connection with the crowd.
There are certain songs of mine that I know can connect with a crowd. When I play ‘Traitor Joe’ there are lines I can put different emphasis on to reach the people in the crowd or when I play ‘Lucky’ with the full band and dance around. Kacey Musgraves did the same thing in order to reach people – a smile here, a raised eyebrow or scowl elsewhere. She doesn’t do anything crazy but she sings and she lets the lyrics connect and tells the story of her songs in her eyes or her hand gestures and that resonates with people.
Catch Megan Moroney whilst she’s still over here in the UK while you can (if you can find a ticket!)
