Morgan Wallen is sitting atop the country music world. It hasn’t been unusual to have multiple Morgan Wallen songs on the chart, in the Top 25, or even the Top 10 or 5 this year. Almost every week another record pops up in the news cycle, now broken by Morgan Wallen. He and a small handful of other artists have led a country music charge, helping making it “cool” again in the mainstream.
But before he was charting all 36 songs off a massive album at the same time on the Billboard Hot 100 (nobody has done that before, he broke Drake’s record who had broken Taylor Swift’s – that’s how big it is), he was just “new artist” Morgan Wallen. You probably know that he was a contestant on The Voice back in 2014. But after The Voice was done, the work really started.
New artists, especially in country, go on things called “radio tours.” They travel town to town, radio station to radio station, and play their music live for whoever is in the radio station at the time of their visit. These tours are grueling but it’s really cool to look back at an artist like Morgan Wallen and revisit the time he was “new artist” Morgan Wallen, knowing all he has accomplished since.
I even remember one time early on in Morgan’s career when he was playing our Monstah Bash (Halloween show). All the artists come through backstage, we interview them, they take pics with staff and winners, they sign some stuff for the station, and they take off to go get ready to play. Morgan was backstage. He was interviewed and made his way to the signing table which was littered with photos, guitars, and all sorts of stuff for him to sign. I was getting ready to interview Michael Ray and since it was a Halloween show I had taken off my Red Sox cap to put my Double Dare helmet on (Halloween, remember?) for the interview. I accidentally put my hat on the autograph table and… I caught “new artist” Morgan Wallen signing my hat. I gave him crap about it then (we laughed about it), today it hangs on a wall in my home studio.
So let’s take a prance through time with Morgan Wallen in Boston. Here are some of our scattered memories with Morgan Wallen. His first radio visit is toward the end – you don’t want to miss those! You can tell the confidence he has gained over the years since.
Backstage/Xfinity Center
When: July 2019
Where: Xfinity CenterMy boss reminded me that I interviewed Morgan Wallen, Hardy, Dan & Shay, and Florida Georgia Line that day. Might have been my best radio day ever. Why I’m chewing my cheek while interviewing Morgan Wallen I’ll never know…
On Stage/Xfinity - Love that graphic!
When: July 2019
Where: Xfinity CenterDefinitely looked like Morgan Wallen by then -- but wait!
When: July 2019
Where: Xfinity CenterHouse of Blues
When: February 2019
Where: House of BluesHouse of Blues (with Hardy)
When: February 2019
Where: House of BluesNow we're going back. Look at that poof!!
When: October 2017
Where: Country 102.5’s Wicked Awesome Monstah Bash/House of BluesHere's the new artist visit!
When: August 2016
Where: Country 102.5 – Studio 102.5 – New Artist VisitHe's a baaaabbbbyyyyyyy! LOL
When: August 2016
Where: Country 102.5 – Studio 102.5 – New Artist Visit
