Maren Morris Says Her New Album Will Have a ‘Texas Rootsy Style’

Maren Morris is well on her way to completing her next album, and the country star shared an update on her upcoming project during a virtual press room at the ACM Awards on Sunday, where she picked up two trophies — one for Female Artist of the Year and another for Song of the Year for “The Bones.” “I’m kind of halfway there,” Morris revealed. “I think the bulk of the songs are in, it’s about the recording.”

The Texas native’s previous album, Girl, was released in March 2019, and Morris shared that “This is the first time I’ve been off the road to make a record in a very long time.” “So I’m really savoring that and not rushing it,” she said, revealing that her new project will have a different feel than her previous work. “So I would say so far, I mean, it’s a really uplifting record. I think I’m in a much lighter place in my life, even though we’re in, coming out of a pandemic, I think that I’ve written the most… just intimate songs.”

Explaining that her last record was “very pop-leaning,” Morris shared that “with this one, I’m coming back to this Texas rootsy style that I grew up in.” “I think that it’s got a lot of Americana elements, a lot of rootsiness,” she elaborated. “It just feels like me but a very stripped down version of me but it’s still extremely fun and energetic. So it was kind of a little bit for everything. I was saying this would be a good record to drive to, to get ready to go out for a Saturday night too, or even cook too. So it kind of hits all those marks.”

The 31-year-old has released multiple songs in between albums including “Better Than We Found It” and “Chasing After You,” her recent duet with husband Ryan Hurd, which the couple performed during Sunday’s show. “I think that I probably couldn’t have pulled that off with anybody else,” Morris shared of the performance. “Obviously he’s my husband, but I just think with something so intimate and what that song means to us, it was just in this thing. Ryan’s first time performing on an award show, I was so excited that I got to kind of be up there with him to witness that as well. So, it was super special and to do it at the Ryman [Auditorium], which is where we first performed together years ago, it felt very full circle for us.”