INTERVIEW: Morgan Wallen on 'The Way I Talk' & Musical Influences

Morgan Wallen moved to Nashville in July 2015 to follow his dreams of a career in music, and his tremendous talent led him to being signed by Big Loud Records. Fast forward to 2017, and the Sneedville, Tennessee born singer/songwriter released his EP and single of the same name "The Way I Talk," and is now working on a full-length album while touring with Florida Georgia Line on their "Dig Your Roots Tour." 

We recently caught up with Morgan at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville where we got to learn more about him during an exclusive interview. He talked about what led him to pursue music as a career, what fans should know about his music, his musical influences, a little about his single "The Way I Talk," and more.

[Buy The Way I Talk on iTunes]

Despite Morgan's fast-track to a music career once moving to Nashville, he was actually more focused on sports at first. Wallen played baseball, shortstop to be exact, in high school which earned him a spot on the team at a major college. However, due to an injury his senior year, he traded in his baseball mitt for the guitar and piano, and began turning poetry into music. He tells us, "I didn't grow up writing at all. I've always kind of had a love for poetry, but I never really put it to music. I was supposed to play baseball in college, and I got hurt. And when I was 18/19, I picked up the guitar and piano, and that's when I started kind of, right there."

On his musical influences and what you should know about his music

"I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and AC/DC, all that kind of stuff. So I like a little bit of the edginess that you can bring to country music. I really love Eric Church. He's the first person that made me love country music. I love the lyrical substance [and] deep kind of songs, so you can expect that from me."

Morgan is working on a full-length album and is currently touring with Florida Georgia Line, who he explains he's written a few songs with already. He tells us, "We've actually written a couple of songs, and one of the songs that we've written is probably going to be on my album."

Until Morgan's full-length album comes out, fans can enjoy his EP and his single of the same name, "The Way I Talk." Morgan explains that he didn't write the track, but connected with it right away after listening to the demo.

On how he wound up recording his single "The Way I Talk"

"I actually didn't write the song, but it's a song that kind of embodies me as a person, I feel like. My manager was actually in Australia and he sent it to me by email, and texted me like, 'Hey, what do you think about this song?' And as soon as I heard it, it was almost like I made an immediate connection with the song. And it's a lot of things that I grew up [on] and the way I was raised, and things that I love. But even though it's the things that I love, I feel like everybody can put their own things in there, and relate to it as well."