Interview: Megan Moroney

Megan Moroney’s hit single, “Tennessee Orange,” had to be recorded under less-than-ideal circumstances.

Shortly after releasing her 2022 debut EP, “Pistol Made of Roses,” Moroney got an opportunity to have a song included in the Fresh Finds channel of the Spotify streaming service. It was the kind of opportunity a new artist couldn’t pass up, but the problem was it needed to be a new song and it had to be turned in on a tighter-than-tight deadline.

“We had to make it last minute,” Moroney said in a recent phone interview. “Like we got in the studio and we had to record the vocals and mix and master everything in 48 hours in order for it to be turned in on time. So the recording of ‘Tennessee Orange’ was like a one-off thing. It was rushed and chaotic.”

But as it turned out, Moroney learned something valuable that she has already applied during the making of her recently released first full-length album, “Lucky,” and will likely shape how she goes about recording in the future.

“It’s one of those things where that was a lesson in the studio. I didn’t have time to go back and fix everything that I would have fixed in ‘Tennessee Orange,’ like my vocals and everything,” Maroney said. “But I think that’s what makes it so real. So when I went and recorded my album, I tried to keep that in mind that not every single word has to be exactly perfect, you know what I mean. If you feel the emotion, that is the right version. With ‘Tennessee Orange,’ I think I did like three passes of vocals and then we comped it very loosely. We didn’t have time (to perfect things) because it had to get mixed and mastered and turned in in order for it to come out on time. Yeah, that kind of helped me record my (“Lucky”) record.

“I think if you listen to ‘Hair Salon,’ my song from my (“Pistol Made of Roses”) EP, that’s almost like 100 percent perfect because I went through and made sure everything was perfect,” she elaborated. “I think you can tell the difference in the vocals of ‘Hair Salon’ versus ‘Tennessee Orange.’ So, I think going forward that kind of taught me to freakin’ lighten up.”

It’s understandable that Moroney, 26, is making discoveries in the studio, as she is still new to the music business.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, who spent most of her school-age years in Douglasville, she grew up listening to classic country, Americana and songwriter-centered rock acts like James Taylor, the Eagles and Jackson Browne, but didn’t start having designs on a music career until after she began college at the University of Georgia. In fact, she initially went to college to study accounting.

But during freshman year, Jon Langston was booked to play a show at her sorority. An organizer for the event knew Moroney sang and asked her to sing a trio of cover tunes as an opener for Langston. It just so happened that country star Chase Rice was in the audience for the show. Impressed by Moroney’s performance, Rice invited her to open his show at the Georgia Theatre in Athens later that year, but on the condition that Moroney sing original songs.

That’s when Moroney began writing songs, and that opening slot for Rice became her first official show. She went on to change majors to marketing and music business, and upon graduation in 2020, moved to Nashville.

By that time, Moroney had already met another country artist that would loom large in her still-young career – Kristian Bush of Sugarland fame. As part of her music business studies, she landed a job interning for Bush in Atlanta. They became friends, and a few months after Moroney arrived in Nashville, Bush got in touch and offered to produce some demos for her. He also introduced her to her future manager, Juli Griffith, as well as a number of Nashville songwriters, including Ben Williams, who has become a frequent co-writer for Moroney.

Things further ramped up for Moroney when she was signed by Sony Music/Columbia Records. With Bush serving as her producer, she went into the studio in January 2022 and emerged with her six-song EP, “Pistol Made of Roses,” which was released in July of that year.

Then came the offer to place a song on Spotify’s Fresh Finds, and Moroney chose “Tennessee Orange,” a song she co-wrote with Williams, David Fanning and Paul Jenkins a couple of months after she finished recording “Pistol Made of Roses.”

“Tennessee Orange,” about a Georgia girl who falls for a guy from Tennessee and admits that while she’s a peach state girl through and through, she’s “wearing Tennessee orange for him,” became the breakthrough single for Moroney. It quickly gained traction and went on to reach No. 5 on the “Billboard” magazine country airplay singles charts and prompted Amazon Music, Spotify, CMT and other outlets to tout Moroney as a country newcomer to watch.

The EP and “Tennessee Orange” gave Moroney her first opportunities to tour, first doing full-band dates last year opening for Jamey Johnson, followed by a succession of solo acoustic shows opening for several other artists, including Warren Zeiders, Larry Fleet and Chase Matthews.

Amidst this activity, Moroney kept co-writing songs and teamed up with Bush once again to record “Lucky,” which was released last May and followed in September by a deluxe version. Two stand-alone singles, “No Caller ID” and “28th Of June” have been released since, keeping Moroney on the country singles chart.

The “Lucky” album and subsequent singles make good on the promise Moroney had shown as a singer and songwriter on her earlier material.

She finds her wheelhouse with mid-tempo songs like “I’m Not Pretty,” “Traitor Joe” and “Sleep On My Side” that blend classic country with some pop touches and feature inspired lyrics that are clever and come with sass and humor. She amps up things on “Another On The Way” (which may remind some of a twangier Sheryl Crow) and the title song (a song that would have fit comfortably alongside ‘90s hits like Brooks & Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”) and also shows a more serious side on ballads like “Kansas” and especially “Girl in the Mirror,” a touching song about wounded self image.

Moroney credits Bush with helping her quickly develop a distinctive musical signature.

“There’s a unique sound that he’s helping me create that is mine and it doesn’t sound like anyone else,” Moroney said. “There’s something modern about it that you can’t put your finger on. And I definitely think that’s Kristian’s brain helping me. I love traditional country, but obviously, I like the modern elements of what we’re creating too. I definitely think he has a lot to do with that.”

The “Lucky” album arrived as Moroney started a busy stretch of touring that has extended into this year. She’s happy to have songs from “Lucky” to fill out her set lists and plans to keep things lively for her fans.

“For the most part, it will be upbeat and have a lot of energy and just be fun, but we definitely want to, we’re going to play the deep cuts,” Moroney said. “I want to give people what they came there to see, obviously, but still keeping it fun.”