How Flying Cars, Tour Buses And 'The Notebook' Shaped Megan Moroney's Killer New Album

Megan Moroney is a singer-songwriter. Moot point, you're probably thinking. Everyone in Nashville is. The difference? Megan Moroney can't stop. She charged out of the gates in 2022 with her show-stealing debut EP Pistol Made of Roses, cracked the Billboard Hot 100 a matter of months later with the doe-eyed waltz Tennessee Orange, delivered her debut album Lucky a year after that and now, a whopping 14 months later, album number two – entitled Am I Okay? – has arrived in resplendent royal-blue fanfare.

All of it bears Moroney's songwriting credit, either as sole or co-writer, and all of it has come while simultaneously traversing both her native US and select outer reaches of the globe. Can't stop, won't stop – to the point it's even impacted her social life. “I have, no joke, stopped people mid-conversation, stepped away and sung an idea into my phone as a voice memo,” says Moroney – speaking to Countrytown just days before taking to the stage at this year's Lollapalooza in Chicago.

“I'm a very sensitive person, which I think explains why I'm always either writing songs or thinking about writing songs. If I feel a certain way for even five minutes out of the day, I could write an entire song about how I felt in that moment. It's a daily occurrence, whether I'm walking down the street or hurrying up to wait on a show day. If I feel it coming on, I immediately need to write it down or otherwise get it out.”

As an example of this, Moroney points to the track Noah from the freshly-released Am I Okay? The song blends two Noahs together – one real, who was “just a cute guy” Moroney met, and the other being Ryan Gosling's character from her favourite movie, the 2003 film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel The Notebook. “I thought it would be super weird to just write about the real Noah – I'd just met him!” explains Moroney with a laugh.

“That's where the Notebook inspiration came into play – I thought about writing from Allie's perspective. What would her point of view be like if she'd ended up engaged to someone else, but still missed Noah? Some people thought it was a song about a high-school lover, but that's not necessarily the case. It all honestly just stemmed from finding out the guy's name was Noah and thinking it would fit nicely in a song. Besides, he was cute! I had to write something!”

On the complete other end of the emotional spectrum, she also brings up the album's closing number, Hell Of A Show. One of two songs on Am I Okay? written solely by Moroney, it's a plainspoken and emotional rumination on literal performative happiness – all smiles on-stage, miserable off-stage. “I literally finished the show, went straight to the back of my tour bus by myself, and wrote the entire song in one go,” Moroney recalls.
“I talked about writing about a moment earlier, and that song is the most in-the-moment track on the entire record. It's quite literally describing everything that I was feeling in that exact moment in time. Everything just felt so in sync as I was writing that song. The only scary part was knowing I'd have to show my management – as soon as I did, their immediate response was to check I was doing alright.”

Like both Pistol Made Of Roses and Lucky before, Moroney worked on Am I Okay? with producer Kristian Bush – best known for his time as one half of country-pop duo Sugarland. One of her early mentors in the industry, Bush has become Moroney's closest collaborator and confidant – something she does not see changing anytime soon.

“He's just brilliant,” says Moroney. “The really unique thing about working with him is that he's not just coming at my music from a producer's perspective, he's also bringing his own artistry to the table. He understands what I want, and he also wants to make each project different from the last in its own way. We both love the sound of real people playing real instruments, but we also love making that sound new and fresh. When we work together, we say it's like a vintage car that just happens to be able to fly.”

Moroney's touring schedule has barely let up between the releases of Lucky and Am I Okay? She's spent several months out on the road in support of country heavyweight Kenny Chesney – meaning she's had to front up and perform to thousands upon thousands in stadiums, arenas and amphitheatres across the nation. “I go into those shows with the mentality of winning the crowd over,” she says. “I spent an entire summer practising to get 50,000 people's attention at once – which I truly think has made my headlining shows even better. I've learned a lot, and really grown as a performer.”

Back in March, too, over a month before Am I Okay? was even announced, Moroney made her maiden voyage to Australia to perform at the CMC Rocks festival in Ipswich alongside Chris Young, Lainey Wilson and former Florida Georgia Line frontman Tyler Hubbard amongst dozens of others. Although her visit was fleeting, performing at the festival as an exclusive, her fly-in-fly-out visit left an impression. “Anytime I go to a new place, you never know how it's going to be,” says Moroney.

“Especially if you're playing a festival – you just don't know who's going to turn up, or if anyone does at all. CMC Rocks completely exceeded my expectations – the whole experience was absolutely amazing. I talked to my agent on the flight home, and I said that we've got to get back there as soon as possible. We'll just have to do a full Australian tour – hopefully not too far into the future!”