Morgan Wallen to Launch Headlining If I Know Me Tour

Morgan Wallen is currently serving as the opening act on Jake Owen's Life's Whacha Make It Tour, but he will kick off his own If I Know Me Tour on Jan. 5, with singer-songwriter Hardy, who recently signed to Big Loud Records, serving as his opening act.

"We're gonna go from the East Coast to the West Coast, and I'm bringing Hardy with me," Wallen revealed to PopCulture.com at a recent media event. "Hardy is one of my best friends. I'm super proud of him that he's got a record deal and he's been writing awesome songs, so I'm gonna bring him out. Hopefully write some more awesome songs together. But, I've never seen him with a full band so I'm looking forward to that. I've been out with Luke Bryan and I'm out with Jake Owen now, in big places, so I'm looking forward to getting out and seeing my fans."

Wallen released his freshman If I Know Me record in April, which is why he is so eager to play his music on the road.

"My album has had some time to marinate and had time for people to get to know it," Wallen explained. "We've had a very good response from it so far, so I'm looking forward to getting out and seeing the people who have been buying my music and streaming my music, and getting up close and personal with them and seeing what happens."

Hardy co-wrote Wallen's recent No. 1 hit, "Up Down," which included Florida Georgia Line on the track. The song became a fan favorite while Wallen was serving as the opening act on Luke Bryan's What Makes You Country Tour.

"When we first started 'Up Down' it was just kind of starting to peak when we started out with Luke Bryan," recalled Wallen. "It hadn't even went No.1 yet. It was known, obviously, I think it was in the Top 10, so people were buying it and liking it. By the time it really started peaking, I knew that every night we went out there, there was gonna be a huge response for that. That was a huge confidence booster for me, going out there for my whole set. We had about 25-30 minute set.

"A lot of those people have no clue who I am until I sing that song," continued the singer. "It was a huge confidence booster for me and awesome to see people having as much fun as we were. Last weekend we just got through doing direct support for Jake, and the whole response from every song was more than I could of expected. It's grown tremendously in the past four to five months, and it's cool to see."

Find a list of all of Wallen's upcoming shows at his official website.

Photo Credit: Getty / Rick Diamond