Morgan Wallen Strives For Authenticity in Burgeoning Career

The country newcomer is spending time honing in on his songwriting in an effort to stand out within the genre.

Written by Cillea Houghton
Morgan Wallen Strives For Authenticity in Burgeoning Career
Morgan Wallen; Photo by Nick Swift

Morgan Wallen fulfilled a dream he never thought imaginable when he teamed up with Florida Georgia Line for his new single, “Up Down,” and while he admires many aspects of the duo, he is devoted to establishing his own identity.

Wallen draws his sound from the southern rock icons he listened to growing up, citing Lynryd Skynyrd, Creedance Clearwater Revival and the Allman Brothers as just some of the acts he has fond memories of listening to with his father. While that side of his artistry comes to life on “Up Down,” the element he loves most about the song is that it’s an authentic reflection of himself. “It’s a fun-loving song first of all. It’s got things I love and a lot of people love,” he explains, referencing the lyrics about fishing, drinking and having a good time, calling the song a “tight country version of southern rock. “I just feel completely myself, which is the most important thing to me and everything I’ve done up until this point. I feel completely, 100 percent comfortable and honest singing it.”

And just one of the aspects that help make him feel so at home in the song is the presence of his good friends Florida Georgia Line, who personally asked to be on the track after they heard it. Wallen was a fan of the guys long before they collaborated and says he never thought he’d find himself on the same song as the superstar act. “It’s kind of surreal. It’s really cool for me to be able to consider them friends and also partners and for them to associate their name with me, it really means a lot to me,” he says. “They’ve been good to me from the beginning.”

Getting to know the duo on a personal level, the up-and-coming singer says he admires how they interact with others, in addition to their bold nature as artists. “I think there’s a lot to be said about how you treat people and they treat people very well,” Wallen says. “I think it’s mostly that they’re just unapologetic themselves and I think that’s probably one of the most important things that you can do as an artist. You don’t really think of anyone else when you think of FGL, they’re their own guys…that’s what I strive to do.”

Wallen recognizes that same sense of individuality in Eric Church, who he calls one of his most significant influences over the past decade. When the young star first heard “Love Your Love the Most,” he was instantly drawn to the song’s attention to detail and Church’s ability to establish his own identity. “I never heard a song like that, talking about mustard on fries and stuff like that,” Wallen explains of his appreciation of the song. “You can tell that’s him and I think that that’s something that I’m striving to be.”

Ready to blaze his own path, the former The Voice contestant released his debut EP, The Way I Talk, in 2016, pulling together a collection of songs he spent nearly half a year writing, wanting to take his time to figure out his own sound. Though he says many of the songs he wrote won’t see the light of day, he claims the process helped decipher his own musical style. “It still helped me figure out me and my sound and who I was for those times,” he says of the process. Just one way of developing that sound was by recording in a room with a live band, bringing the southern rock sound he craves to life.

“It’s cool for me to be able to do things my own way,” he shares, saying that his songwriting process is a flexible one. He sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night ready to put pen to paper with inspiration for a song, rejecting the model of following a set schedule when it comes to the craft. “That’s one of my favorite things about it it’s such a wildcard type thing and I love that about it. I’ve always been a little bit of rebel, so it’s fun.”

Wallen is gearing up to release another EP in late 2017, which will be followed by a full-length debut album in 2018. “Up Down” is currently on country radio.