Maren Morris on her new "therapy project" album, the Grammy's and working with Taylor Swift
Her third record, Humble Quest, drops March 25th
Last updated 19th Jan 2022
On the ninth anniversary of Maren Morris arriving in Nashville with “short hair, some demos in my pocket and moved into a Craigslist house sight unseen”, she dropped the lead single to her upcoming third album, Humble Quest.
It’s a full circle moment - pardon the pun - as ‘Circles Around This Town’ charts Morris’ journey from dreamer to country music superstar. Speaking to Absolute Radio Country's Elaina D. Smith, 'The Bones' singer explained that the song is “very much about a journey to Nashville.”
“I’ve been in Nashville nine years. Don’t they say that if you’ve been somewhere for ten years you’re officially a native? There’s a lot of new movers here. I feel like if you’ve lived here over five years you know the place pretty well. Go ahead and call yourself a native.”
If 'Circles' is anything to go by, the sound of this new record has strong Nashville roots - definitely country and sharp songwriting. Music City is infamously known as a “ten year town”; it typically takes a decade to make it in the music business there. As one of the few who has "made it", does Maren know anyone who is long overdue for their moment in the spotlight?
Husband Ryan Hurd tops the list. An established songwriter in Nashville, he's finally coming into his own as an artist. “I was so proud of him last year, he’s so deserving, he got his first number one."
She went on to reel off a number of future Nashville stars. "I'm so excited about Hailey Whitters, she has a song “Ten Year Town'', one of my favourite songs ever.” Hailey opened for Maren on a leg of her GIRL tour back in 2019.
“Brittney Spencer, she’s everywhere in the press so she’s on the rise. Joy Oladokun, there’s lots of people local to Nashville, not just country but also folk and Americana that are on the cusp of becoming a household name.”
"My Church", "The Middle" and "The Bones" - three very different songs, helped Maren become a household name. While her last record, GIRL ventured into pop and RnB, 'Circles Around This Town' oozes nostalgia and is truly three chords and the truth - and it doesn't get more country than that.
But she enlisted the help of pop artist and songwriting juggernaut, Julia Michaels to help her write the track. And she was the one who suggested they make it into Maren’s story.
“I had a pretty fleshed out concept of Circles ... But to make it so personal, so specific with each example in the lyric of the verses to my story, was really Julia and Ryan Hurd’s idea. I didn’t want to make it so personal to me, I wanted it to be a narrative that anyone could hear themselves in.”
However, Maren is thankful her co-writers pushed her to be so specific as it made her fall even more in love with the song. So what's her favourite lyric from ‘Circles’?
“This is such low hanging fruit but I would have to say the one I can’t wait to perform on the road is, “one about a car and a one about church that I wrote driving circles around this town” I’m gonna call back to my own songs, deal with it.”
Maren fans will know the songs referenced here are '80s Mercedes' and 'My Church', respectively, which won her a Grammy back in 2017. Maren’s a whopping fourteen time Grammy nominee, with two nods this year for protest song, 'Better Than We Found It', and 'Chasing After You', her 2021 collaboration with Ryan Hurd.
When asked about the Grammys being postponed this year, Maren said it was “definitely a bummer because it’s Ryan's first nomination, and we’re both looking forward to it.” But keeping in line with the tone of Humble Quest, she remains optimistic.
“They’ll pick another date … Maybe they can do an outdoor ceremony. We’ll make it happen. I don’t think I’ll be performing this year, but with the new music, hopefully next year.”
While the timeline for when Maren graces the Grammys stage again is up in the air, what is certain is that we won’t be disappointed. Past performances include singing with Alicia Keys, doing a medley with Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus, and most recently, calling on John Mayer to lend his legendary guitar skills to ‘The Bones’.
John Mayer has sung Maren’s praises for a long time, and if you listen to his new record, you’ll hear Maren’s backing vocals on numerous tracks, on 'Last Turn Home' in particular. Their collaboration was a pinch me moment for Maren, who said that Mayer is “one of my favourite artists ever”.
Maren also worked with Taylor Swift in 2021, on ‘You All Over Me’, calling her “the greatest of all time”. 2021 was so collaboration heavy for her because “I was writing so I had the bandwidth to do more collaborations with other artists since I wasn't releasing new solo music.”
Going into this new era, Humble Quest, will only have one collaboration - Ryan Hurd. “We’re always on each other’s stuff. We’ve only written together for almost 10 years,” Maren joked.
As for the songwriters, it's a lot of "familiar characters" to those who have studied Maren's liner notes over the years. “A lot of my friends like Laura Veltz, Jimmy Robbins (co-writers on The Bones). If you do something and it works, and you’re friends with these people, you don’t go astray.”
Sticking with her tried and true co-writers makes sense, given what Maren has revealed so far about Humble Quest. “I’m so proud of what I’ve made. I think it’s my most honest lyrics. It’s a really hopeful project. It was not the time to write a bunch of downer music. It lifted me out of a plateau and I hope it does for all my fans and listeners.”
To write a record like that, chances are it needs to be with people you're not afraid to open up to. Are there any tearjerkers at all?
“There’s one sad song, but honestly even the ballads are hopeful, not stewing in negativity. They're very optimistic and light. It was a therapy project to lift me out of what I was going through, it’s a comforting record.”
Maren has spoken about suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her son, Hayes in the spring of 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Releasing the album artwork and track list for Humble Quest, Maren shared some words on her latest project, hinting at what we can expect and her own personal journey of making her third album.
“For the first time in many years, I wasn’t in control. I wasn’t in control of the fate of my career ... or even of my body “snapping back” after giving birth.”
“So, here are the stories of my rises, my overshares, my appreciation of Midwestern guys who stand at least a foot taller than me, my lullabies, my wine-soaked conversations with a dear friend and my final goodbye to one ... Am I humble enough now? Here’s to taking the quest to find out…”
Humble Quest is out Friday 25th March
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