The best news of the year was just announced. William Michael Morgan is going to be releasing an EP and it will be produced by the legendary Keith Stegall!
Most likely the name William Michael Morgan will be unfamiliar to you. For those that only started listening in the last five years or checked out in disgust during bro country and have yet to re-join, that makes perfect sense. To be frank, even if you’ve been paying attention to the generalities of the music scene, you may have blinked and missed his presence.
This is further bolstered by a cursory listen of his music. His discography is light. Let’s say you got very excited by my hype for the upcoming EP and in anticipation decided to check out this guy. You wouldn’t see much. An album in 2016. Five singles released in close succession in 2018- probably an attempt at an EP of some sort. A smattering of covers and a couple original songs fill out the rest. If you’d click one of the songs, you’ll probably find it somewhat unremarkable. He sounds like any number of well oiled modern neotraditional artists. Perhaps you’d remark on the mellowness of his baritone. These guys are a dime a dozen these days, especially if you like Texas country. The instrumentals possess most of the generic production choices found in that style as well. The writing is simple and pretty mainstream. A girl, a breakup, some scattering of detail thrown in here and there. What exactly is the big deal over this guy?
The answer lies in understanding the atmosphere in which he first arose. 2016 doesn’t feel like it was that long ago until you realize that we are currently closer to 2030 then we are to 2016. The midpoint of the decade was a transition stage. Country had been oversaturated with bro country in the prior half decade and was ripe for change. Sam Hunt had presented an alternative vision of what country could sound like when he released Montevallo and that had the potential (and ended up actualizing it) to lay the groundwork for the remainder of the decade.
Into this mishmash of waning bro and ascendant pop arose a small throwback movement. There were a scattered few artists that all pulled from similar traditional sounds and provided a refreshing dose of old-school energy on the beleaguered airwaves. Many of us were hopeful that this could be the future. Artists like Jon Pardi, Midland, Mo Pitney, and others all arrived on the scene in a big way. Chief among them was a young 23 year old with a caramel toned smooth voice and a bold eye to the future: William Michael Morgan. His song Met A Girl flew to the top of the charts peaking at number two. A traditional sounding organic textured song being successful in radio was nearly unheard of at the time. All the hopes for the future of old school country were firmly placed on the independent and Americana side of the country music world. Many saw this as the opening and a harbinger of a resurgence to come. Unfortunately, this was more a false start rather than the beginning of a trend. A sugary smooth pop sound took over the remainder of the decade with artists like Brett Young, Dan and Shay, and the aforementioned Sam Hunt leading the way. It wasn’t until the pandemics aftermath that things slowly started to shift in a more organic direction. Perhaps now, after the dalliance with warmed over soft pop has waned, the future we wanted will come.
William Michael Morgan himself sputtered. The aftermath of his brief success spawned a follow up single that didn't do great. There was clearly a culture clash with his label before announcing a follow up project. Morgan was an outspoken critic of what he perceived to be the inauthentic and pop obsessed scene. His label was unsure which direction they wanted him to go. He released five singles and made the unusual choice to put the next radio single choice in the hands of a fan vote. The songs were a little bit different than what you might’ve expected. More diverse, and it seemed very clear that the label was doing A-B testing to see what the future of William Michael Morgan was to be. After none of those singles caught fire, and more clashes over the direction of Morgan's follow up music, the label parted ways leaving him to try and rebuild some streaming numbers and fame on his own. That's where all the one off singles and covers come from. Just throwing material out there, reminding people that he's still around and hoping something catches aflame and goes viral.
It seems that perhaps someone's eyes fell upon him recently and decided to try and bolster his career. His upcoming EP will be produced by the legendary Keith Stegall- the primary producer of Alan Jackson. One can only hope that Stegal’s mastery of neotraditional country and his general golden touch will provide the tone, flavor, and setting that WMM needs to be able to break free from the anonymity that has characterized the last 5 to 7 years of his career. He is still a relatively young artist- under 30 years old- and could quite easily ascend to the level of a Randall King without a ton of work needed. It’s just a question of getting the right chances and who knows, maybe now, with the more diverse offerings being presented to consumers in this heavily streaming dominated culture, Morgan will finally be able to seize the opportunity that it looked like he had back in 2016.
In celebration, I’m going to highlight six of my favorite WMM songs:
I Met A Girl- The smash hit for a good reason. Smooth, inviting, romantic, and a unique spin on what a traditional approach to modern melodic and songwriting forms wound sound like.
Spend It All On You- in case you thought all this dude could do was crank out honky-tonk bangers, this sultry soul infused groove will showcase his diversity and sincerity. A gorgeous love song that really stands out among the generic detail and presentation of most love ballads in the last few years.
Back seat Driver- an emotional piece littered with little details that bring the heartwarming song details to life. Yes, the cops get more intense near the state lines.
Brokenhearted- this is not in fact a Joe Nichols original. WMM performs it with more flair, and dare I say sincerity then Nichols. A fun country arrangement with a little poke at radio. Yes, people do get brokenhearted in country nowadays, but five years ago not as much.
Cowboy Kind Of Cool- the over the top raucous honky-tonk we all love. He portrays the mystique of the cowboy, from Wayne to Eastwood, all done with a keen understanding of both the cool, and the tongue in cheek nature of the whole bit.
Please Come To Boston- the definitive country cover of this late 70s soft rock classic. His voice has matured a bit. It has a more deep and husky texture to it that really takes well to this lovely ballad. This song reignited my interest in WMM and is my first recommendation for anyone wondering what the hype is.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
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