Keith Urban Praises Maren Morris for Being the ‘Real Deal’ in Country Music

Keith Urban is speaking out about Maren Morris‘ success, which he perhaps anticipated long before anyone else. It was Urban who invited Morris to open for him on his Ripcord World Tour in 2016, when Morris’ debut single, “My Church,” was still climbing the charts.

“I loved her voice, the first time I heard it,” Urban told Harper’s BAZAAR. “Loved her voice. Loved her songwriting, the sound of the record. I could tell she had this really particular artistry. It wasn’t like anybody else. I just loved it. I wanted to take her out on tour right away.”

Since the Ripcord Tour, Morris has had five hit singles, including “The Middle” with Zedd and Grey, and “GIRL,” which is her latest No. 1 hit, the title track of her sophomore album, released earlier this year. She also launched her all-female Girl: The World Tour, selling out most dates long before she hit the road.

“For me, the most exciting part of watching Maren’s career take off has been the fact that it’s justified,” boasted Urban. “She’s the real deal. She can really write. She can really sing.”

Morris is using her rise in popularity to not only just increase her own success, but to blaze a trail for other female artists who haven’t had the experience she has had, at least not yet.

“At some point we have to just stop talking about it. I try to prove through action,” Morris said. “Like, ‘Okay, if you’re not going to play these girls, then I’m gonna bring them out on the road with me.’ Cassadee Pope‘s been out. RaeLynn‘s out on the road with us now. I’ve got Kassi Ashton coming out, Hailey Whitters, a lot of up and comers that deserve to be on stage. We have a female tour manager, female bass player, female manager.”

Morris got her start playing bars and clubs in her native Texas, which unknowingly gave her the tools she needed for this phase of her career.

“I like to say that everyone’s an overnight sensation when no one’s heard of them before,” Morris said. “But you don’t see all of those years of playing in sh–ty honky-tonks, and being stiffed by the club owner and not getting paid, but playing the show anyway, and being essentially background music.”

“I had a lot of doors slammed in my face, but one song can change everything, and that’s what happened with ‘My Church,’” she remarked. “There are a lot of gatekeepers that do not give the same time of day to a new female artist that they would do to a new male artist.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images / Taylor Hill