The sun is finally shining up here in Western New York, concerts are coming back and I'm going to be black out drunk in Nashville very soon. A lot to look forward to! Know what else I really look forward to? Finding new badass talent who are gonna make moves in Country Music. Megan Moroney has the tools to be successful in Music City and I'm excited to see what the next few years will look like for her.
Get to Know Megan
"Okay, so I'm from Georgia, born in Savannah. Didn't live there long. I moved to Douglasville, Georgia - which is west of Atlanta. For college I went to UGA. My parents moved about 45 minutes away from Athens, because my brother also went to UGA and it made sense. I got into music early on, as my dad was in a band and my brother plays guitar, so I just grew up around it. My whole life, as far back as I can remember, we had a music room in my house. Now we have 2 music rooms - one that has wood floors and wood furniture so the sound is great, then we have a "live" room that has microphones and stuff. That's where I practice. I have always been able to sing and did a lot of talent shows growing up so I got comfortable singing in front of people. Growing up I would listen with my dad to The Eagles, Jackson Browne, James Taylor and so many others. Because of that I have always listened to words. As I started to grow up, I never thought of music as a profession - like I went to school to be an accountant. I just always loved lyrics so I started songwriting, fell in love with the process and I wasn't too bad. I moved to Nashville like 8 months ago. I graduated in the middle of COVID so I didn't know if it was a good time to move, but I went for it. There hasn't been much for me to do besides write songs, but shows are starting to pick up which I'm excited for."
Fresh to Nashville, Megan Moroney flew out of the gates with her vibey debut single "Wonder" on February 26th and has instantly turned heads. This song is different and one of a kind, taking you through a conversation and putting some catchy word choice and compelling instruments to complement Megan's voice. You know a song is hittin' when you listen to it for the first time and have an obnoxious head bob going …. and you have no idea you're doing it. That may or may not have been me listening to "Wonder" for the first time and looking like a complete dumbass, but hey a good song is a good song. In a town filled with artists chasing sounds that "work", Megan is showing her authentic sound and is putting out music with both heart and soul. A very bright future for this Georgia native.
Inspiration Behind "Wonder"
Written By: Megan Moroney, Produced By: Kristian Bush & Brandon Bush
"I actually wrote this song alone. I started a lot of my songwriting alone because I was at UGA and it was hard for me. I'm a very outgoing person, but I wasn't just going to go up to people and be like "hey you write? You wanna write some time?" I'm starting to write with people more now but this was back in May 2020 and I wrote it alone. I came up with the hook which was "it ain't always gotta be lightnin' and thunder...he won't make you wonder". Then I went to the beach. I had that small snippet on my phone and my friends and I were at the beach having a good time. One of my best friends Nat was upset over a guy. Literally everyone is on the beach and I just walked off down the beach and wrote the first and second verse. I didn't have the bridge or the change in the last verse yet. When we got back to the house, I got my guitar and recorded everything I had written. It is a very conversational song and that's because I was telling my friend like "hey, we are here trying to have a good time and you deserve more to feel like that." Natalie and I don't even remember what the whole issue was, I guess the guy is just that irrelevant."
Q & A With Megan Moroney
Q: What was that "light bulb" moment for you where you knew you wanted to pursue music?
A: "At the end of my freshman year I got to open for Chase Rice at the Georgia Theater and that was my first real gig ever. I had played at my high school, in my living room and some talent shows, but other than that I wasn't playing out. For my sorority philanthropy event we got Jon Langston to come out. They used our whole budget to get him to perform and we needed an opener. The philanthropy girl was like "oh you sing don't you?" I hadn't played anywhere but I went up there and performed three cover songs for Jon. Chase was actually at that show, heard me sing and wanted me to open for him, but he told me I needed original songs. So for the next three weeks I wrote some songs. At the time, I was also an accounting major, casually getting 50's on my tests and thought to myself I should probably be studying instead. After that I switched my major to marketing and did music business. Playing my first real show at Georgia Theater was special."
Q: Best Nashville Experience so far?
A: "Oh that's a hard one. Non-music, I would have to say my first Nashville party bus. Renting one of those and going through Broadway was peak Nashville for me. Music wise, I haven't even played a show there yet, but there are shows happening every night so hopefully soon. Even the songwriting aspect, I'm getting in rooms with people I respect so much as songwriters. It's really cool to be able to learn from them. They have songs on the radio and have written songs that I love. Just being able to soak everything in from them is really cool for me."
Q: A song you wish you wrote and why?
A: "It's always in between a few, but I would have to pick "Desperado" by The Eagles. I think that's the best song of all-time. If I had one song I could play for the rest of my life and couldn't listen to anything else, that would be it. I feel like this is the first song I heard as a child and really fell in love with. My dad played all that music growing up and lyrically I think it's perfect, I wouldn't change a thing. My parents say if I get a tattoo they will kill me, but one day I'm sure that's going to happen. It will 100% be “queen of hearts” because of "Desperado".
Q: If you could go back 5 years what advice would you give to your younger self?
A: "Music. I would say stick with piano, because I gave that up. I didn't think it was cool. Looking back, I really wish I had stuck with it because I think it's one of the prettiest instruments. Life advice, I would say trust that God has a plan for you. There are a lot of things that I thought I wanted and am very happy that they didn't work out. That is probably the most important thing."
If you are just discovering Megan Moroney follow her on Apple Music, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok