Best known for his his song “The Way I Talk” and “Up Down” featuring Florida Georgia Line. This up and coming artist has found success with his unique voice and hard work. Currently on tour with Luke Bryan, Morgan Wallen talks to us about his new songs and his new debut album “If I Know Me and what it’s like touring with Luke Bryan.”

Currently on tour with Luke Bryan, I asked Morgan how it has been going and he said, “It’s been awesome, we’ve had a great time with Luke. Luke’s a super good guy and everyone that’s on the team, that is part of his crew has been really great to us. Obviously we get to perform for his fans, people every night, it’s incredible and great exposure for us and a great learning experience as well. Just trying to watch and take notes from Luke and what he does, while doing his thing. It’s been a fun summer so far for sure! I think the most I enjoy about touring is getting to see different places and different walks of life and different cultures and how they relate to the same songs. It’s cool to see how music can bring so many different types of people together and there’s so many, you start seeing a lot of fans that you can recognize. I’ll see some familiar faces in the crowd and that’s kind of cool too. To see familiar faces is kind of comforting in that kind of way, but I think the best part is just getting to play music that you love, that you get to call this a job, is still pretty crazy to me.”

Some of Morgan’s musical influences growing up are Classic Rock and Christian music, which he says, “I know it’s kind of a strange combo. My dad really loved classic rock like the Eagles, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Marshall Tucker band, Allman brothers, all that kind of stuff and I loved it too. So even now, if I have to play music, if you ask me to pick one kind of thing, I’m probably going to play the Eagles. It’s hard for me to say that I have one favorite band because I appreciate so much music, but I really do love the Eagles and I also love Eric Church too. He really is the person who got me into country music. I listened to country music growing up and I was really fond of country, but it was mostly classic rock like I said. I found Eric Church and his music just really hit me in a way that no other music really did. I started digging deeper into his kind of album, I mean that was when he was first starting. You know I think that really opened the door to country music for me and listened to a lot of country music. When I started writing songs, country is what came out of me, so I’m very grateful that it is, cause I feel at home. It’s all real stuff and I think that’s cool.”

Some people don’t know that Morgan was on the Voice in 2014, and I asked him if that experience helped prepare him for getting into the music industry and he said, “Yes, you know it was cool. I think it was a stepping stone kind of thing. Got me some exposure, but really I’m thankful for how it went on there. I’m not like a flashy kind of student and that’s what you kinda gotta be on there to win, so I never really even thought I was going to win. I just wanted it to open some doors for me and that’s what it did. I got to meet some people, ended up getting me to Nashville and introducing me to people who helped me get a record deal and a focus deal. I think it was just that plan and I’m very thankful for the way it went. My time there, I appreciate it all. It was a good experience for sure. It’s hard to get your music to be the thing that people care more about and I think the fact that I didn’t get there and I didn’t do that, is a blessing, because the Voice, to be the best thing I ever did, I wanted to be known for something that was me, and that I got to play and not something that someone else did.”

Morgan is a songwriter and has written some pretty big hits, like Jason Aldean’s number one song, “You Made it Easy.” I asked Morgan how does that differ now that he has his own number one song, “Up Down,” that he collaborated with Florida Georgia Line and he said, “Both of them are awesome, It’ cool to have both of them, but I think it’s really cool to have Jason Aldean do a song that you’re a part of, because I’m a Jason Aldean fan. My dad loves Jason a lot, so that was cool. That moment I got to call him and say, “Guess what,  Jason Aldean got to use that song.” That was one of the coolest moments of my life, so far. Getting to tell him that, and then just to see someone else’s version of a song that you’re part of, that’s cool. To see the success it has is really crazy. I’m grateful for Jason, for using the song and for keeping his word. He said as soon as he heard it, ‘Yep that’s going to be my next single on my next album,’ and he did what he said and I appreciate him for that. Just getting to be a part of his career and seeing him do something with the song and then the number one for an artist. Most people know the album for the ‘You Make It Easy’ song, but if you know “Up Down,” you know I sing as well. It helps with your credibility, especially for the fans. Exposure with the video and that kind of thing. The songwriting thing is more like a Nashville credibility, so I may get a little more respect and that kind of thing in Nashville, than anywhere else. The artist thing is more for the general population, for the real people. But it’s cool both ways.”

One of Morgans favorite songs to perform live is “Up Down.” He says, “When I’m in these bigger places playing with Luke Bryan, that’s the song that people know the most. That one out here is definitely the highlight. It’s really cool to see no matter where we go, literally everywhere in the country, everybody knows that song. It’s pretty crazy. It doesn’t matter where we’re at, you can let them sing that tonight. Not the whole song obviously, but it’s cool that we all can have that moment together, no matter where we’re at. It makes it more comfortable for me and my guys on stage that we have that to look forward to. We’re still getting started and everybody doesn’t know all of our music, I mean our core fans do. We’re out here with Luke Bryan, tens of thousands of people and they don’t all know us yet, so it’s cool to know that they atleast know the one song, and hopefully make them true fans as well with the other music we play and that kind of thing.”

Morgan tells me his greatest musical accomplishment to date is, “I think having the number one on the radio. When you move to Nashville, that’s what you want. You want to get signed, you want to be on a record label, you want them to go crazy on it and you want people to hear your music. You want people to love your music and the fact that someone is going to want it and that it has sold the way it had. I still feel the same as I did when I first started all this, but it’s cool to know that it helps you feel like you’re really in the right place. And that you’re really doing the right thing, where God wants you to be in the world, and having a number one just solidifies that.”