Maybe Morgan Wallen didn’t know all the hard work he put into his career after being a talent program runner-up would pay off as handsomely as it has, but country music’s hottest star has become a household name. Fame’s come with a few drawbacks, like living under a media microscope, but it opens unexpected doors as well as Wallen’s opportunity of a lifetime: becoming the co-owner of Field & Stream magazine.
He and Eric Church are the most famous names attached to the publication’s revival of its print version in June, bringing the singers of “Man Made a Bar” full circle to the outdoor traditions of their boyhood when dog-eared copies of Field & Stream carpeted the floors of pickup trucks and fishing boats.
Wallen has come to embody the everyman since releasing his debut single, “The Way I Talk,” in 2016, and it’s a perception that fits him like a glove. He doesn’t much resemble the long-haired pretty boy that did well on The Voice in 2014 until he was booted from the show after singing a Florida Georgia Line song.
Undaunted and wiser from his experience, Wallen kept working with voice coach Serg Sanchez and returned to his home state of Tennessee. The former high school baseball player who studied piano and violin in childhood released an EP, got picked up by Big Loud Records and reached the top five of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart in 2017 with second single “Up Down.”
That song featured Florida Georgia Line, who he’d go on to open for in 2019. By that time he was already ascending to country’s top tiers of talent. “Whiskey Glasses,” his second single from 2018 album If I Know Me, went to No. 1, but it was sprawling 2021 release Dangerous: The Double Album that secured him a place in the fame firmament. It debuted at No. 1 in January 2021 and stayed atop the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, the only country album in the 64-year history of that ranking to do so.
Single “7 Summers” had been released the previous July and reached the sixth highest position on the Billboard Hot 100, establishing Wallen as a crossover artist. Dangerous may have garnered some skepticism among record execs with its 30-track length, but fans just pressed play and listened to the album in full, from “Sand in My Boots” to “Quittin’ Time.” Wallen’s bourbon-burnished singing could draw emotion out of listeners a la George Jones.
His sleeveless-flannel couture, openness to adapting production techniques from other genres, and lyrical subject matter make him easily relatable. Wallen is unapologetic about his lifestyle, while quick to apologize for gaffes captured on video or the occasional party foul.
He’s been held to account by Nashville, but his fans’ forgiveness manifested in the support for 2023’s One Thing at a Time, which spent 19 non-consecutive weeks on top of the pop album chart. That album’s “Last Night” spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks in the No. 1 singles position in early 2023, but it was his collaboration with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help,” that became this year’s song of the summer. It may be the beginning of a new tradition.
Allegiant Stadium, 6 p.m. Aug. 8-9, starting at $109 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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