Melodic Magazine
Morgan Wade strives for authenticity and storytelling
As a result of her authenticity and artistic grit, Morgan Wade is one of this generation’s brightest country stars. A modern-day storyteller, Wade is a classic country singer-songwriter who is as honest as she is inspiring. Praised for her signature raspy vocals and fearless songwriting — which tackles mental health, relationships and her sobriety — Wade has made serious headway in the country music scene. On her fourth studio album Obsessed, released last August, Wade took her vulnerability to new heights.
Alongside the release of Obsessed, Wade spent last summer opening for Alanis Morissette on her Triple Moon Tour alongside Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Recently, Wade has been enjoying the success of her 2025 Obsessed Tour, which marks her first headlining tour in nearly two years. On this run, Wade has been able to meet new fans who were introduced to her through Morissette’s tour. “It’s been really cool to go back out on this run and hit some of the same places that I did with Joan and Alanis,” Wade tells Melodic Magazine over Zoom in late February. “We were in Denver and like half of the VIP [guests] that I met before the show was like, ‘I saw you with Joan and Alanis and I became a new fan.’ That’s been really cool to be able to see that.”
Long before she played alongside Morissette and Jett, the Virginia native grew up surrounded by music, with her grandparents taking her to local bluegrass shows throughout her childhood. In college, Wade was inspired to immerse herself in songwriting after ending a relationship and began to assemble what would soon become a discography built on the foundation of honest expression.
To record her debut musical release, Wade recruited four bandmates through Craigslist, naming the group Morgan Wade and The Stepbrothers. They released one album, Puppets With My Heart, in 2018. Three years later, Wade released her debut solo album, Reckless, which topped Rolling Stone’s 2021 “Best Country Albums of the Year” list and climbed to number 14 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart.
Wade kept up her success with her 2023 LP Psychopath, an album that continued to showcase the cathartic and raw songwriting that Wade had become known for. Along the path to today, Wade has been nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s New Female Artist of the Year, the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Act of the Year, and Country Music Television’s Breakthrough Female Video of the Year.
Obsessed, Wade’s fourth full-length record, takes on a more stripped-down, singer-songwriter approach to the singer’s musicality than ever before, as evidenced by Wade writing all but one of the LP’s songs entirely on her own.
“I didn’t put that record out thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be a record with a bunch of radio singles or anything like that,'” she admits. “These are all pretty much deep cuts, so to be able to be out on [that] tour and have everybody singing those words right back to me, it’s a great feeling because it’s showing me how loyal my fanbase is. It’s not just the catchy songs that they’re out there watching me for. They’re out there for the deep cuts, and for the real shit too.”
Following Obsessed, Wade’s latest single “East Coast,” released March 14, maintains an acoustic-heavy approach as the song tells an anthemic yet melancholy story about the fall out of a one-sided relationship. Written around the release of Wade’s 2021 album Reckless, “East Coast” was a deep cut that never made it onto the record.
After a fan mentioned their love for the song, Wade decided to dig up the track and give it new life. “It was, lyrically, another song that I was proud of,” she says. “And honestly, if it’s just one person that comes up and says, ‘Man I really love that song, I hope you release that song.’ That’s one person out there that really appreciates something you wrote when you were at a really difficult time. If I can go put that song out and it makes that one fan really happy, then I’m happy to do it.”
Wade will display the edgier aspects of her sound as she tours alongside hard rock bands Bush and Beartooth supporting Shinedown on their Dance, Kid, Dance Tour. Beginning April 25 in Des Moines, Iowa, the tour will make its way throughout the U.S. over the spring and summer before ending on August 30 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Despite the initial nerves felt as the Shinedown tour drew closer, Wade’s fears have subsided after forming a new friendship with Shinedown’s Brent Smith and Bush’s Gavin Rossdale. “After hanging out with those guys and getting to know them, they are both just the kindest people I’ve ever met,” Wade says.
“Brent really stressed to me that everybody on that whole entire tour is super welcoming and we’re all in it together and he just wants everybody to feel at home. Just talking about the different stuff that we can all go do together, that too is just something that I’m really looking forward to,” she says. “Going to Madison Square Garden with these guys, I’m really, really excited to be able to do that and just to be out in front of their fans and make new fans. And we’re obviously going to be playing a heavier rock set, so I’m excited to showcase the rock side of my art.”
Through her gritty vulnerability and the personal issues she tackles in her songs, Wade has cemented herself as one of modern country’s most unique new talents. However, she is no stranger to collaborating outside of the genre. As well as her tour with rock legends Joan Jett and Alanis Morissette, Wade also collaborated with Kesha on Obsessed, featuring the pop artist on the track “Walked On Water.”
While pop, rock and country may appear as three very contrasting musical genres, Wade believes that a song’s lyrics are at the core of what makes “good music.” “I love country music because of the storytelling,” Wade says. “When I was talking to Brent about this tour, he was just talking about my songwriting and how he thought it was very authentic and was very much discussing the words and the lyrics. When I listen to Bush or Shinedown, I’m listening to the words and it’s all very authentic too.”
When it comes to musical influences, Wade knows no bounds. Although a lover of her signature genre, Wade takes inspiration across the board, favoring artists such as Lana Del Rey, Johnny Cash, Miley Cyrus and more.
“I don’t care what genre of music it is, I’m all about the words,” Wade explains. “I’m just such a huge lyrics person. So if I listen to a song and I connect to those words, I don’t care what genre it is. I just want to connect with this. My playlist is all over the place. I am very inspired just by people telling their story.”
One artist who has been taking over Wade’s playlist lately is somebody who might not be listener’s first guess. “Doechii is somebody that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. She’s just so raw and real with it. I just love that,” Wade admits. “I think that we can learn so much from other genres to make yourself a better artist.”
Whether it’s within rap, rock ‘n’ roll or in her own country artistry, Wade is a songwriter who embraces - and strives for - authenticity. Unafraid to sing about life’s tougher moments in her work, Wade has always written the songs she has needed to hear ever since she began writing as a child.
“Even now when I sit down and write a song, I don’t know that it’s a song that I’m going to go put on a record,” she says. “Sometimes it does and I get a little nervous because I did say things that are super personal, but I’m putting it out. I think if I sat down and just said, ‘Alright, I got to be authentic with this,’ I don’t think I would be, because I’d be putting too much pressure on myself. So now I just write because I have to write.”
When it comes to facing her struggles head-on, Wade admits she will often keep to herself when she’s going through hardship. However, her biggest advice to fans who may relate to the pain explored in her songwriting is to find just one person to share your sorrows with.
“I’m pretty introverted,” Wade says. “For me it is hard to go talk to people, but I found that the moment I do find someone that I can talk to about what I’m going through, it’s one hundred percent a different situation. So that’s one of the biggest things, just seeing people coming to my shows and being able to watch the sense of community. Whether it’s mental health of sobriety or physical fitness, any of that, just talking and getting out there and not shutting yourself off. Because music is something that can really bring us together, I[‘ve] definitely learned that.”