Country Lowdown
Hello country music fans! For my second ever interview I asked our commander in chief that if Morgan Wade did any press as part of her tour and an interview was possible, I would like to do it. Helen, as always, delivered, and shortly you will be reading my rambling questions and Morgan’s responses. I caveated the interview with the fact I was a fan first, journalist second and that it was only my second ever interview, and thus apologised in advance if I messed it up. I think, thankfully, I didn’t, but I’m not the judge of that. However, she didn’t tell me to do one when I had the fortune of seeing her later that evening, so it can’t have been that bad.
I have attempted to write it out as verbatim as possible, so you may need to imagine the accents for it to completely make sense.
Country Lowdown: Welcome to the UK! I know you’ve been here a few days but welcome from Country Lowdown.
Morgan Wade: Thank you
CL: First of all, I saw your Instagram yesterday, so want to check this first – is your mum ok?
MW: Ah yeah. She actually came out of surgery really good, and I talked to her yesterday and a bit this morning, and she’s actually moving around a bit today so she’s actually doing really good.
CL: Excellent. Good to hear. Must be a weight of your mind while you’re overseas.
MW: Yeah, yeah. She had another surgery a couple of months ago, the last time I was here, so I told her to stop getting her surgeries when I go to the UK.
CL: 2nd time in the UK, first time was C2C right?
MW: Yes
CL: Before coming to C2C had you heard much about the festival, about UK and European audiences, did you have any expectations?
MW: I just know from all my friends that have played over here that “you’re gonna love it, the audience is great, they really listen, they’re great fans, they wanna buy all the merch and everyone is super supportive”, and I only heard goods things. And everything everyone told me is true. Everybody’s been amazing and all the shows over here have been amazing.
CL: Yeah, I mean coming over for only your second ever visit and doing a headline, virtually sold-out, tour – everyone I see going “anyone have a spare ticket”. How does that feel, the first sort of lengthy time over here? Selling out, playing at British Summer Time with the Eagles…
MW: I was pretty nervous when they’re, like, hey we’re going to announce some shows and we want you to come over here to do some shows, and we think you’ll do really well. I was a little nervous. It’s like a 600 cap run, and I was like I don’t know about that, you know I’ve never been there and it sold out so quickly we had to add another night and it sold out. You know, that’s, I was like, yeah this is gonna be awesome, so everything sold out so that’s amazing. I’m already talking about when I’m gonna come back, you know the bigger rooms I’m gonna be playing in. [something I don’t understand] having a great time.
CL: I know a few people who can’t make tonight because of the train issues and they said, “she’ll be back won’t she?” and I said yes, definitely.
MW: Yeah, I’ll definitely be back. We’re already discussing it with my agent over here.
CL: Going back to C2C, how was doing the songwriters’ round, with the just the three of you on stage, but to those reasonably large arenas, which is not necessarily the normal setting for a songwriters’ round.
MW: [chuckles] Yeah, that was cool. You know I had no idea, I hadn’t heard of C2C before, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was cool. It was very very big rooms, but to have everyone be so quiet, listening. We’re just sitting up there with acoustic guitars, that was great. Very intimate, as intimate as it can be in that big of a room
CL: 20,000 people
MW: Yeah, and it was, I thought that was really cool. It was such a large room and we’re just in there with guitars, playing the songs the way we wrote them.
CL: I loved it. I was sat in the third row for all of that in London. I know there was quite a few tears shed across the audience while you were playing. It was fantastic. The whole album is fantastic, it’s amazing. I can’t pick a favourite song off the album – they’re all amazing.
MW: Thank you
CL: Are they all based on personal experience and that kind of thing?
MW: Yeah. I mean I wrote all of them, whether it’s something I myself experienced or I witnessed from someone but it’s all real-life stuff that I have observed or felt or been through.
CL: It comes through like that and it’s absolutely amazing. I don’t know if celebrated is the right word, but I know you celebrated 5 years sobriety last week, which is a fantastic achievement. I know that, and various other things have featured in your song writing and as that’s journey’s gone on, you mentioned last night new music you’re going to be working on, is that a progression of all that personal experience – you know further into the sobriety journey and all that kind of thing.
MW: You know for sure. Where I’m at in my life now versus where I was. I recorded Reckless 2 years ago, and some of those songs I’d written or been working on for a year and a half, 2 years prior to that, so some of these songs are 4 years old, 4/5 years, something like that, so I’m definitely not the same person I was, you know, when I wrote those songs, so it’ll be really nice to have these newer songs to, you know, where I’m at right now for everybody to hear and definitely would say, that you know, that 5 years sober and growing up and trying to be more of an adult. I don’t know how that’s going or if I can really call myself an adult, but I’m still alive.
CL: As a tattoo fan, I couldn’t do this interview without asking a bit about the tattoos. Do they all have specific meanings about specific things in your life or are there some that are “I kinda like that so I’ll get it”?
MW: Ah yeah, some of them have meaning, and some are like I walked in there and I want to do this one. I’ve got so many I kinda forget what I have. Someone will say to me I really like that, and I’m like shit, I forgot I had that.
CL: One day I’ll probably be like that, but for now work doesn’t really allow me to be.
MW: Yeah, I chose the career that allows me to do that.
CL: Sadly, I can’t sing, have no musical or artistic talent, so have to stick to my office job [MW is laughing at this frank admission of mine at this stage]. Moving on to back to the album and music stuff. You’re originally from Virginia. Did you make the move to Nashville, or have you stayed in Virginia?
MW: I still live in Virginia. I don’t live in my hometown anymore, but still in Virginia. I kinda like being outside of Nashville. I travel so much I don’t want to be in the middle of Music City. I would like to relax and not sit in traffic all day – I do enough of that when I’m touring. I’d rather just spend some time, you know, squaring my head and relaxing.
CL: Here at Country Lowdown, we like to have a specific question in a lot of our interviews: What superpower would you have?
MW: I’ve thought of this before, and I would like to be able to go in to the future, because I would just steal everybody’s ideas so I would go in to the future, and see everything that is happening and then go back in time, and you know, whether it’s a song, or I would win the lottery because I’d guess all the right numbers, and so yeah, I’d be getting ahead in life because I’d be stealing everybody’s ideas.
CL: That is amazing. Like I said earlier, last night’s show was amazing, in that spectacularly warm venue that is probably going to be even warmer tonight I imagine. Are the shows matching your expectations, is reality better, or is it a bit worse because of how hot that venue was? [It would appear that I thought the Garage, on the Holloway Road in London was a somewhat warm venue.]
MW: It’s been great. Everything’s been great, the shows have been fun, there hasn’t been a single show that sucked. Sometimes you go do tours and there’s that one show that wasn’t the best. Everything has been fun. Everybody singing every word to every song, that’s incredible. Somehow, they’re even singing the words to the songs I haven’t even put out yet. Don’t even know how that’s possible. I’m like y’all been watching me in my house or something, I don’t know. It’s been great. I mean, everybody’s been so nice over here. I feel very appreciated and very heard and seen.
CL: I’m going tonight, and I know a load of people looking forward to that, and I know people of Manchester and Glasgow are looking forward to it. Sunday is going to be a bit different – a bit like Isle of Wight Festival, but also a bit different. Have you got any further single releases from Reckless planned, or are you on to the next record now?
MW: We’ve got some stuff recorded we’re wanting to get out. I just need to get home so I can do a little bit of promo for it. We’ve got some really cool ideas and some new stuff and I’m really excited to get that out there and I’m going to the studio next month to get started on record number two.
CL: That is amazing news. I believe we have 10 minutes, and that is 10 minutes.
MW: Yeah, he’s saying I’ve gotta move
CL: Well, thank you very much. I shall see you at the show, for which I’m leaving now.
MW: Alright man, thank you so much I appreciate you
CL: No, thank you!
I’ve no idea how it comes across, but Morgan really was lovely to chat to. She is a very down to earth and likeable person and in my opinion is going places.