As a sold-out crowd roared in excitement to see country music star Blake Shelton at the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater last month, there was another star in the making, but he had already performed — in fact, he had opened the show.
Myles Morgan, born and raised in Birmingham, is not only a rising country musician, but also a junior majoring in business at the University. Morgan recently made the switch to the University’s online program, moving to Nashville to help him build his music career.
Since his debut single “Nobody’s Fault But Yours” released in June of last year, Morgan has been on a pathway to success, with the song gaining over 1 million streams earlier this year. His most recent release in May, “I Still Got It,” has propelled him into his own headlining tour, making stops around the South and back in Tuscaloosa.
A straight shot into the starlight for Morgan didn’t stem from a music background, though, and he didn’t get involved in music until late in high school.
“I was a baseball player my whole life. I never really did anything with music. Growing up, I’ve always loved music, I would say, more than the average person, but never did anything about it,” he said. “Nobody in my family has done music or knew how to play any instruments or anything like that.”
From there, he learned how to play guitar during his junior year of high school, and then during his senior year, he moved to Orange Beach, where he “really started learning how to play” and eventually graduated. Morgan credits his beginnings in performance to the area.
“I started playing gigs and in restaurants and small little places down along the coast of Orange Beach, and before I went to college, I got an opportunity to play at the Flora-Bama down South,” he said. “That’s kind of what started it all for me.”
Coming to the University, Morgan found others who shared his passion for music, and they quickly fell into place as part of his band. He started to play shows at local bars and venues but said he actually was able to gain connections through another concert.
“I went to a Larry Fleet concert at Iron City in Birmingham in February of last year, and I brought a sign with me that said ‘Can I play “Where I Find God” with you?’” he said. “The guy who came and got me out of the crowd was his photographer, and his name was Matt Paskert, who is Morgan Wallen’s photographer.”
Morgan used this connection later, when he called Matt Paskert during his performance at “Live at the Plaza,” in Tuscaloosa, but he told Paskert it was a “festival.” Paskert sent a friend, who quickly realized it wasn’t a festival, but helped Morgan get access to a production team and gave him the chance to record a song. During this session, the production team brought in Dominic Frost, the lead guitarist for Morgan Wallen, to play guitar on his song.
Beyond the studio, Morgan said the transition to online learning and the move to Nashville has forced him to “get good at time management.”
“You gotta make sure you block off some time during the day to do your school work, and then once that’s done, you can just worry about music,” he said. “It’s not too terribly hard, but it’s definitely something that you got to stay on top of.”
Morgan has now released six songs, including “Is This Seat Taken,” a song he wrote about meeting his girlfriend in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“That song was fun because it was 100% a true story of me just walking up to this girl in the stands,” he said. “Every detail of that song is very accurate. So that one was a fun one to write, because it was just talking basically. It wasn’t even me struggling to try to find the right words, it was what happened.”
Morgan’s popularity has skyrocketed, and he’s been able to gain experiences from that. Just this summer, Morgan played at the Carolina Country Music Festival, Barefoot Country Music Festival, opened for Miranda Lambert at the West Virginia State Fair, opened for Muscadine Bloodline at the Sand Mountain Amphitheater and most recently opened for Blake Shelton in Tuscaloosa.
“It’s really special being able to play back in Tuscaloosa, especially with a show of that caliber. I mean, Blake is a legend, and it was an honor to be able to play with him,” Morgan said. “Especially in our backyard, in front of a bunch of people who have been seeing us play over the last year at all these bars and everything like that.”
When talking about his future, Morgan said he is taking it “one day at a time” but still feels a “drive to keep it going.”
“I’m going to keep God first and keep my head down and see what happens,” he said. “I can’t wait to see what happens.”
Morgan is currently on his “I Still Got It” tour, which will be making a stop at Gallettes on Thursday. The venue will be 19+, and tickets can be purchased online.
“We’re working really hard on that show, and it’s going to be an insanely awesome show. We’re putting a lot of effort into it and doing a bunch of cool things tailored to Tuscaloosa, making it super special because of our ties with T-Town and Alabama,” Morgan said.
