Maren Morris has had quite the busy year. Aside from releasing her second album Girl back in March, Morris has been touring, writing new music, working with a new all girl band called The Highwomen, and she was even featured on the cover of Women's Health Magazine. Bobby Bones sat down with Morris to discuss all of her success and side projects over the last few months.
Bones asked listeners to call in with questions for Morris and one fan asked what Morris' favorite song off her album Girl was. Morris said it changes as she writes, records, and then starts touring and performing the album every night. But if she had to pick her top three choices would be "Girl" because it's such a great powerful song that she starts the show with. "The Bones" is an emotional song she loves to perform and "A Song For Everything" is another favorite to share with crowds of people. Morris actually opened up to Bones about her struggles early on touring for GIRL. She said she used to have massive anxiety attacks before her shows early on because she felt such a pressure to make sure people loved the new music like they loved Hero.
Now, Morris said she is much more comfortable and has become much better about balancing all of her projects. Her most recent project is creating the band The Highwomen with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Amanda Shires. A listener called in the ask "what was the inspiration behind creating the band?" Morris explained The Highwaymen, which was Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash; were the original troubadours. They started the band because they were all successful in their own right and they were all friends who wanted to make music together. Morris alongside Carlile, Hemby, and Shires respectfully wanted to create strong women coming together to celebrate their songwriting craft and what women in this industry go thorough. The band released their first single on Friday, July 19th with a expected album release date of September 6th. Morris said "The Highwomen's" album is some of her proudest work; she's so happy to be a part of a band where she can harmonize and share the stage with other incredible women.
Bones asked Morris who her inspiration throughout her career has been, to which Morris responded with Dolly Parton. Morris said she was fortunate enough to work with Parton at the Grammy's this past year and after that experience she said it was such a life lesson on how to treat the people around you and how to conduct yourself as a business woman. She said Parton is such an inspirational artist, but also knows how to handle her business. More personally, Morris said her inspiration is her mom, because she is a self-starter, she started her own business 25 years ago. They didn't have a ton of money growing up, but her parents always kept that entrepreneurial spirit.
Morris and Bones grew up similarly, not having a ton of resources. Bones asked how she made enough money to afford instruments and also pay bills while starting her career. Morris laughed at how she would play so many gigs, everything from Chili Contests to local bars scraping together enough money to afford everything. She actually paid for her first car with cash in full. It was a car she found on craigslist, and she was so proud of herself for working hard enough to be able to do that.
Listen to the full interview to hear Bones share what his pre-show warmups are like, Morris also told us her pre-show ritual as well as when we can expect another solo album.