Country Singer-Songwriter John Morgan Reflects on Opry Debut, Talks New Song 'Man of Few Words' (Exclusive)
Country songwriter John Morgan got his major break in the industry a few years ago when he caught the ear of Jason Aldean, who has since recorded a number of the singer's tunes. Over the past year, Morgan has released a handful of songs himself, including his most recent single, "Man of Few Words." Additionally, Morgan just made his Grand Ole Opry debut, which he told PopCulture.com was "a bucket list" experience.
Morgan is originally from the small town of Sylva, North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains. He spent years playing bluegrass and country music before moving to Nashville and landing songwriting opportunities that led to Aldean recording tracks he co-wrote. This includes Aldean's number one single "Trouble With A Heartbreak," as well as the Grammy-nominated "If I Didn't Love You," a collaboration between Aldean and Carrie Underwood that also won a 2022 ACM award for Single of the Year. Ultimately, Aldean ended up signing Morgan to his label Night Train Records — an imprint with BBR Music Group — and taking him out on the road for a major tour, setting the stage for Morgan's rise. Scroll down to check out our recent chat with Morgan, including more about his new song and what it was like taking the Opry stage for the first time.
PopCulture.com: I know that you made your Opry debut last week, last Friday. What an exciting moment I'm sure that was. I would love to hear all about it and what that experience was like for you.
John Morgan: It was awesome, man. Obviously, that's a bucket list checkmark for me. It is a special place and I've revered it for a long time and then to finally be there and know I'm going to be stepping in that circle was pretty cool, to say the least. But yeah, it was a busy day, man. We did a bunch of interviews and all that leading up the afternoon too, shot a lot of behind-the-scenes footage and all that stuff.
It didn't really hit me until it was showtime and I'm like, "Oh man, here we go." Which is probably not the best, in hindsight, the best approach, but it was awesome, man, just being out there and I think my whole hometown showed up. So it was cool, man. It was really cool.
PC: I know you are originally from North Carolina... And I'm assuming that the support from your hometown, family, friends, and fans and all that has been just very uplifting.
Morgan: Yeah, for sure, man. A lot of the drive is making your hometown proud if you appreciate and love where you're from, and I do, and I've got a lot of friends that still are there. And yeah, it's just cool to get to experience that. I graduated in a class of five and one of my classmates came out and I hadn't gotten to see her in a couple years so that was cool to just get to see people that I hadn't got to see in a while and have them experience that with me.
PC: Recently, Chayce Beckham (American Idol 2021 winner) spoke with us and he talked about how coming from a smaller town and blue-collar life really prepared him for the busyness of his country music career, and I was just curious if you found that your trajectory was similar at all. If you feel like the way that you grew up and the life that you had prepared you for the whirlwind.
Morgan: Yeah, man, I would definitely say that. I think the two main things in that sense to me that I've learned is being able to decipher stuff that's true and real and then the smoke. I think that's one thing, just being grounded in certain areas I feel like keeps your drive going and keeps you humble in a sense because you know you could easily tomorrow be back there cutting grass and cutting people's grass during the summers and doing that again. There's always somebody that's right behind you willing to take that spot, and so you got to respect the game and appreciate what opportunities that you come across.
I think the other thing, too, that goes hand in hand is just having a good work ethic. I grew up that way and my parents were some of the hardest working people I know, and that instinctually rubbed off on me and I just learned at an early age, if you want to get somewhere, you want to achieve something, you got to put the time in and usually when nobody else wants to. I still try to keep that incorporated into what I do, and if something requires me to stay up and work late hours, I'm going to do it if it's worth it. So, I think just those two things, especially to me, are what I probably have gotten out of my upbringing the most.
PC: I'd love to talk about the new song, "Man of Few Words," which was inspired by your then-girlfriend, now wife, but I was curious about the songwriting aspect of it. Did any specific lines in the song come to you first? How did that evolve?
John Morgan: That song is special to me because, a couple reasons, but one of them was that was one of the first songwriter retreats I was able to go on and it was a couple years ago now, and we got in the room, I think we rented out some cabin up in Gatlinburg and it was just me and a couple of my buddies that write as well. We just got in a room and one of the guys, Smith Ahnquist, he was like, "I don't know if you'll like this or not... I got this title that I think is just you." So he threw it out, he had that title, "Man of Few Words."
The writing process for me is always different, it always starts differently. I'll either have a core progression I think's cool, or a guitar hook or a melody or a lyric line, whatever, it just varies. But as good as I can remember, I think that's how that one took off was just that hook. I think the way we ended up hooking it is just, it's cool. It's relatable, especially for me, it's true to who I am when it comes to my family life and all that. If I'm not talking about my girls, then I'm a man a few words and I think there's a lot of guys out there that can relate to that and probably similar situations. I never was super extroverted going out and being super, I don't know, what do you call it? Outgoing and going to every event, doing all that, that just wasn't my thing.
I was probably holed up in the basement somewhere working on a guitar or something, doing something dumb. But yeah, I love the song for that reason because it's true to me and it was fun to also get to do it in that setting. We were up in the mountains and just got that inspiration too, and getting to do it with some of my buddies, Will Bundy and Jeb Gibson and Smith. I think that helps a lot too because you got guys who know you and it's not like we just work together, we're buddies too, and so that's part of the reason this song is special to me.
PC: I know that you got a busy rest of your year coming up. You were on tour with Jason Aldean last year, and then this year you got a run of festivals, you're going out with Ernest, it's a nonstop train of busy for you.
John Morgan: It's been awesome, man. Last year we, in a good way got, thrown to the fire in a sense, and it was great for us. Just watching, being able to watch a camp that's so well oiled, like Aldean's camp is, they know exactly what they're doing. Most of them have been there for a minute, and so the whole way that they operate is just extremely smooth, very few hiccups, they're true professionals when it comes to putting on a show. It was cool to experience that and to try to incorporate that on a smaller scale in what we do, and just pulling tips and stuff like that out of their playbook is definitely super valuable to us and really set us up for what we're doing this year, which is going out and going out and bouncing around with a couple different artists and different camps.
We've already got to meet new camps and do that this summer already, and it's cool. It's cool to meet people out on the road, you'd think you would meet a lot of these people in town, but most of the time, a lot of these guys I've met for the first time out on the road. It's a great opportunity in that sense too, to just make those relationships and friendships along the way. So, I'm super excited about this summer, we got a lot of festivals we're going to be hitting and, like you said, the Ernest thing in October, in the fall. Yeah, a lot of cool things going on.
Fans can find Morgan's upcoming tour dates by clicking here, as well as follow this link for more of his music. Keep it locked to PopCulture.com for more great country music news, reviews, and interviews! [Editor's Note: This interview has been slightly edited for time and clarity.]
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