Morgan Wallen: Who Believed In Him From Day One

Morgan Wallen is now selling out multiple stadium shows in cities each weekend on his "One Night At A Time" Tour, but it wasn't always that way for the country superstar.

Morgan came to Nashville about ten years ago and worked to make a name for himself there. I had a chance to interview Wallen a few years ago, and at the time, he told me about a country duo that knew he had something special early on. 

Morgan told me about the first time he heard of the duo, "It's really crazy to think about some years ago. I remember my buddy, I was on his boat, and he was like, 'Man, I got this new group that I really like,' and he showed me Florida Georgia Line. I remember that moment that I heard it, how much I liked it, and how much I was a fan immediately."  Of course, Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley have since split up as Florida Georgia Line, but Wallen was lucky to meet, and work with them while they were still together.

Wallen added, "Circle back around to meeting them, and they have just really treated me like a little brother throughout the whole process. Their friendship has meant a lot. That they got on my song, they have taken me on tour, and we write songs together. 

FGL's being featured on "Up, Down" helped him out when he needed it. He said, "It's a confidence builder. You are like, 'These people believe in me; what is stopping me?' They've been super good to me. I love those guys." 

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Wallen is celebrating his 31st birthday today (5/13) and just announced plans to expand into his first-ever European run with an additional six shows this fall: Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Glasgow, UK and Dublin, Ireland, Aug. 28 - Sept. 7, 2024, with Larry Fleet and Lauren Watkins on all dates as direct support. 

Tickets go on sale this Thursday, May 16, at Ticketmaster.com.

 Wallen donates a portion of every ticket sold to his Morgan Wallen Foundation.

Wed, Aug 28 // Stockholm, Sweden // Friends Arena 

Fri, Aug 30 // Oslo, Norway // Oslo Spektrum

Sun, Sept 1 // Copenhagen, Denmark // Royal Arena 

Tues, Sept 3 // Amsterdam, Netherlands // Ziggo Dome 

Thurs, Sept 5 // Glasgow, UK // OVO Hydro 

Sat, Sept 7 // Dublin, Ireland // 3Arena 

Country music often focuses on small-town people and their love of the land and fellow people in their hometowns. There have been many songs in the country over the years paying homage to the small town and hometowns, including Miranda Lambert's 2007 song "Famous In A Small Town." Eric Church scored a hit in 2014 with "Give Back My Hometown."

Miranda's 2007 song's lyrics include, "Whether you're late for church / Or you're stuck in jail / Hey, word's gonna get around / Everybody dies famous in a small town / Well, baby, who needs their faces in a magazine? / Me and you, we've been stars in this town since we were seventeen."

Carrie Underwood also sings of the charm of small towns in her 2012 chart-topper "Thank God For Hometowns," and it is hard to forget one of Montgomery Gentry's biggest hit over twenty years ago in 2002, "My Hometown."

The Cambridge Dictionary defines small towns as "small social groups where ordinary people live." The US Census Bureau determines a small town with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. It is slightly smaller than the average suburb, which is defined as a community within an urban area with between 30,000 and 70,000 residents.

What is fun in country music today is that many of today's big stadium headliners, like Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen, play for crowds bigger than the populations of the towns they were born in. As we pay tribute to hometowns, we look at five country superstars playing to audiences each night bigger than their hometowns.

As of 2021, Huntersville has a population of roughly 60,000. That is just a bit less than the crowd size Luke plays for each night on his stadium tour. Combs is now in New Zealand playing for big crowds overseas.

Morgan is playing for audiences each night on his stadium tour for crowds more than forty times the size of his hometown. In 2020, the population of Sneedville was just 1,315.

Lainey's hometown is tiny, with a population of just 211 reported in 2021. Wilson is now on her own headling arena tour playing for crowds of more than 10,000 people, and she just wrapped Luke Combs stadium tour as an opener playing for crowds over 60,000 each night.

Eric is from a very small town with just under 5,000 (4,927) as of 2021. Church is currently on his "Outsiders Revival Tour," playing outdoor arenas with more than twice his hometown's population at each stop.

Carrie often talks about her hometown being Checotah, Oklahoma, which has a population of 2,043 as of 2021, but she was actually born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, with a population of 36,790 (2021). Either way, opening for Guns N' Roses on their "World Tour" like she has last week (8/6) and a few more times this month, she is playing for packed rock crowds of over 60,000.