49 Fun Facts About Morgan Wallen

Morgan Wallen was born in which small Tennessee town?

Sneedville. He grew up in the isolated, two-stoplight town near the Virginia border until his family moved to the Knoxville area during his high-school years.

Which sport did Wallen play in high school, until an injury in his senior year?

Baseball. A star pitcher and shortstop, he hoped to play in college and perhaps professionally until an elbow-ligament injury in his senior year ended the plan and pushed him towards music.

On which TV singing competition did Wallen first gain recognition in 2014?

The Voice. Shakira turned her chair less than ten seconds into his audition, but he picked Usher as his coach, and he was eliminated in the playoffs.

Wallen's 'Cover Me Up' on Dangerous is a cover of a love song by which Americana singer-songwriter?

Jason Isbell. After Wallen was filmed using a racial slur in 2021, Isbell said he would give his songwriting royalties from the recording to the Nashville chapter of the NAACP.

Which DJ, recording as Thomas Wesley, featured Wallen on the 2019 country crossover single 'Heartless'?

Diplo. The single climbed into the Hot 100's top 40, and the song turned up again on Wallen's own next album, Dangerous: The Double Album.

Wallen's 2015 debut EP, released on Panacea Records, was titled what?

Stand Alone. When Panacea reissued it in 2024 with eight unreleased songs, Wallen said it was happening against his wishes and answered by re-recording one of its tracks himself.

Which independent record label signed Wallen after his manager sent a demo to executive Seth England?

Big Loud. The label signed him as a songwriter too, so his first No. 1 on country radio was a song another star recorded, while his own debut single stalled at No. 30.

Wallen co-wrote 'You Make It Easy', a hit for which country star?

Jason Aldean. On hearing the song he said at once that it would be his next single; it led off his album Rearview Town and went to No. 1 on country radio.

Wallen's first Hot Country Songs top five, 'Up Down', was a collaboration with which duo?

Florida Georgia Line. The duo were already his tour bosses and writing partners: he had opened their Dig Your Roots Tour and written with both members before they cut the duet.

Wallen has said he adopted his trademark mullet after seeing an old photo of whom with the haircut?

His father. Wallen walked into his label with the new mullet just after it had shot his marketing photos and videos with a completely different look.

What is the title of Wallen's 2018 debut studio album?

If I Know Me. It was a slow burner: released in April 2018, it did not reach No. 1 on the country albums chart until August 2020, more than two years later.

Which Wallen single was Billboard's top Hot Country Song of 2019?

Whiskey Glasses. The break-up song, which Wallen did not write, became his signature hit and gave him his first top 40 entry on the all-genre Hot 100.

Which singer, Wallen's guest on 'Come Back as a Redneck', also co-wrote his hits 'Up Down' and 'More Than My Hometown'?

Hardy. He was a songwriter first: after 'Up Down' became a hit, Wallen's label signed him as an artist too, and he was soon opening Wallen's own tour.

Which producer, known for his rock work with Nickelback, has made most of Wallen's albums, including Dangerous?

Joey Moi. The Canadian made his name producing Nickelback, a band the teenage Wallen listened to, before reinventing himself in Nashville as a country hitmaker.

Which country star co-wrote 'Thought You Should Know', Wallen's 2022 single dedicated to his mother?

Miranda Lambert. She wrote it with Wallen and Nicolle Galyon as a letter of thanks to his mom, Lesli, and it went on to top the country charts.

Wallen's 2020 SNL booking was cancelled after he partied maskless in which college town?

Tuscaloosa, Alabama. TikTok clips showed him partying in bars and kissing a fan after a University of Alabama football game, days before he was due in SNL's Studio 8H.

Which actor hosted the December 2020 SNL where Wallen finally performed and joined a sketch about it?

Jason Bateman. He played a Wallen from one month in the future, turning up at the party to warn him he was about to be thrown off the show, with Bowen Yang as an even later Wallen.

Dangerous was the first album to spend its first ten weeks at No. 1 since a 1987 release by which singer?

Whitney Houston. Her album Whitney had done it 34 years earlier; Wallen's run rolled on even after radio stations and streaming playlists dropped him partway through over a racial slur.

Which Wallen song, built from a demo that blew up on TikTok, gave him his first Hot 100 top 10 in 2020?

7 Summers. He had posted a snippet on Instagram without being sure the song would even make his album; after fans seized on it, it entered the Hot 100 at No. 6.

Wallen's first top-10 debut on the Hot 100 came 21 years after which country star managed one under an alter ego?

Garth Brooks. He did it in 1999 as Chris Gaines, a fictional rock star he had invented for a film, The Lamb, that was never made.

Wallen co-wrote 'Brown Eyes Baby', a 2022 single for which country star?

Keith Urban. He fell for the song on first hearing and chose it for how it felt, not for its credits: he learned only afterwards that Wallen was one of its writers.

Which artist guests on the Dangerous track 'Only Thing That's Gone'?

Chris Stapleton. He is one of only two guests across the album's 30 tracks, and Billboard called the duet a 'prestige country stamp of approval' for the younger singer.

Which retailer sold Dangerous early, prompting Wallen to tell fans to buy it at Target instead?

Walmart. When clips from the early CDs leaked, Wallen posted unreleased songs himself, saying any leaking should be his to do, and pointed out that Target's edition had two extra tracks.

In April 2021 Wallen donated $300,000 to which organization following his racial-slur controversy?

Black Music Action Coalition. The gift was made in the names of 20 people who had counselled him, each free to redirect a $15,000 share, and $135,000 of it went on to smaller charities.

Which rapper joined Wallen on the top-15 hit 'Broadway Girls'?

Lil Durk. Wallen made a surprise appearance at the rapper's MLK Freedom Fest show in Nashville to perform it, and the two teamed up again in 2023 on 'Stand by Me'.

Which Wallen single spent a then-record ten weeks atop Billboard's Country Airplay chart, starting in October 2022?

You Proof. It kept bouncing back to No. 1 after other songs had replaced it, and its ten weeks beat a record of eight shared by Lonestar's 'Amazed' and 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'.

Which awards body barred Wallen from its 2021 show, then named Dangerous its Album of the Year in 2022?

Academy of Country Music. The ban followed a video of him using a racial slur; a year later he took the stage to accept the prize, thanking everyone who had shown him 'grace along the way'.

Before Wallen in 2023, which solo male country singer last topped the Hot 100, with 'I Love a Rainy Night'?

Eddie Rabbitt. His hit led the chart in early 1981; more than 42 years later Wallen's single ended the wait, then kept returning to No. 1, for 16 weeks in all.

Which 2023 Wallen single spent 16 weeks atop the Hot 100?

Last Night. Its 16 weeks came in five separate spells: rivals kept knocking it off the top, and each time it climbed back.

Which song kept a Wallen hit at No. 2 when country first filled the Hot 100's top three, in 2023?

Try That in a Small Town. The single jumped to No. 1 amid a row over its video, with a cover of 'Fast Car' at No. 3: the first all-country top three since the chart began in 1958.

In which city did Wallen cancel a stadium show minutes before showtime in April 2023?

Oxford, Mississippi. He had played the Ole Miss stadium the night before; with the second crowd already waiting he announced that he was unable to sing, and he came back to play it a year later.

'I Had Some Help', Wallen's 2024 duet with Post Malone, was the lead single from which Post Malone album?

F-1 Trillion. The duet entered the Hot 100 at No. 1, led it for six weeks in all and topped Billboard's Songs of the Summer chart all season, launching Post Malone's turn to country.

Which duo remade their 1990s hit 'Neon Moon' with Wallen for their 2024 album Reboot II?

Brooks & Dunn. The duo re-cut their old hits with younger stars for the album, and the version with Wallen carried the three-decade-old song onto the all-genre Hot 100.

Wallen won which award at the 2024 CMA Awards, with Jeff Bridges jokingly accepting on his behalf?

Entertainer of the Year. He led the field with seven nominations yet lost the other six, and he was not in the room when the biggest prize of the night went his way.

In 2024 Wallen was arrested for throwing a chair off the roof of a Nashville bar owned by which country star?

Eric Church. His bar, Chief's, was celebrating its opening weekend; the chair landed close to two police officers, and Wallen later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors.

What is the name of Wallen's six-storey venue that opened in Nashville in June 2024?

This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen. It is not wholly his: a restaurant group licensed his name for the downtown venue, though the menu does carry some of his mother's recipes.

Wallen is an investor in and the public face of Ryl, a company that sells what?

Flavored iced tea. His own Ryl sweet tea, launched in 2023, was made to taste like the tea he grew up on in East Tennessee, yet it contains no sugar.

Whose Hot 100 record of 27 songs in a week did Wallen break?

Drake. In March 2023 Wallen put all 36 tracks of One Thing at a Time on the chart at once, then beat his own mark two years later with 37.

Which pop singer duets with Wallen on 'What I Want', his first-ever duet with a female artist?

Tate McRae. She teased the duet by posting a Tennessee-orange jersey reading 'T8' with his MW logo, and its debut at No. 1 gave her the first chart-topper of her career.

The I'm the Problem single 'Superman' was written about whom?

His son Indigo. Wallen said he had tried for a long time to write a song for the boy, and that none of the earlier attempts had felt good enough to release.

Which single returned Wallen to country radio in August 2021, six months after stations had pulled his music?

Sand in My Boots. It was his first official radio single since stations had dropped him that February, and it climbed all the way to No. 1 on Country Airplay early in 2022.

Which singer-songwriter is Wallen's guest on 'Cowgirls' and his duet partner on 'Flower Shops'?

Ernest. He wrote 'Flower Shops' while on a kick of George Jones's sad country songs, then had Wallen, one of his best friends, sing on it.

Which artist's tour did Wallen open on in 2019 under the name Beer Never Broke My Heart?

Luke Combs. Wallen was still opening for bigger names in 2019, as he had for Luke Bryan the year before; four years later he was headlining stadiums on a world tour of his own.

Which two artists did Wallen cite as the models for his country sound?

Keith Whitley and Eric Church. He has said Church's raw emotion drew him in first and sent him back to Whitley; years later his hero became a friend and a guest on his records.

Wallen was arrested in May 2020 after being thrown out of whose Nashville bar for kicking glass items?

Kid Rock's. He was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct outside the honky-tonk, admitted the night was 'pretty fuzzy', and saw the case dismissed.

Wallen's father Tommy served for a time in which role in their Tennessee community?

Church pastor. Wallen has traced his rebellious streak to being a preacher's kid who was expected to be a leading example of Christianity, and did the opposite.

Which two instruments did Wallen take lessons on as a child?

Piano and violin. The guitar came much later: he took it up after high school, when he began writing songs as a way to get his feelings out.

What job did Wallen take after high school, during a period he has described as adrift?

Landscaping. It was still his job at 20, and it is how he introduced himself when he first sang for a national television audience: 'I'm currently a landscaper'.

Which October 2024 single gave Wallen his third Hot 100 No. 1 by debuting at the top?

Love Somebody. He first played it in full on tour in Sweden that August, and it became his first solo single to enter the Hot 100 at No. 1; his earlier debut at the top was a duet.