John Morgan Reveals Original Career Plan

Before John Morgan ever stepped into a recording studio or topped the charts, he was planning a very different career path, one that did not involve guitars and songwriting sessions. The North Carolina native revealed his alternate career choice, revealing that becoming a rising country star wasn’t always the plan.

In an interview with Holler, Morgan revealed that he had originally imagined following in his uncles’ footsteps as a cattle farmer: “When I was living in North Carolina, I had bought about 10 acres of land. I wanted to raise Black Angus and do the whole thing my uncles did when I was growing up. That's what I wanted to do.”

Fortunately, he heeded the music call and took the chance. “But I just remember that feeling of knowing I've got to chase this music thing, and if I'm going to do it, I've got to do it now.”

He added, “I remember sitting up on a center-beam I was building while re-modeling this old house. It hit me with all the weight of the world: if you're going to chase music, you'd better go now. Otherwise, you're going to settle down, and you'll be stuck here. I didn't know if I'd be able to live with myself if I didn't chase it”.

Morgan learned to play the guitar at age eight, and by the time he was 10 years old, he was traveling across the country as part of his family’s bluegrass band. “What I've tried to incorporate from my bluegrass days is the storytelling aspect. I didn't really dive into songwriting headfirst until I was out of high school. I was writing some bluegrass stuff here and there, but I didn't have the bug for it like I did for guitar.”

He admitted, “I didn't really know the songwriting world existed. I thought - like a lot of people still think - that every artist writes their own songs. So when I started learning about songwriters in Nashville, the whole scene really intrigued me. It was very cool to know that there were guys behind the scenes just pumping out magic on a weekly basis. That's when I really caught the bug.”

Check out his chart-topping hit, “Friends Like That,” featuring Jason Aldean, below.