Texas-to-Nashville transplant Maren Morris, 26, has been in Music City for three years, carving out a spot for herself as a singer/songwriter with country, folk and pop stylings. While she gears up for the release of her major-label debut album, Hero, on June 3, her debut single, “My Church,” is climbing up the charts, currently No. 9 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. We caught up with the Lone Star State songbird to talk Hero, her upcoming spot on Keith Urban’s RipCord World Tour and her five favorite things about Texas.
“Releasing the record is really the dream coming true—and having a song on the radio made it feel real, finally, because it’s been so much prep work from writing the song last year to now,” says Maren. “I feel like it’s finally here and I’m trying to document as much as I can with pictures and journaling so I can come back, because it’s all happening at once. I never want to forget those moments. However things end up, I hope I’m always as grateful as I am today.”
5 Things Maren Loves About Texas
- Tex-Mex Food
- Barbecue
- Floating the River
- Gruene Hall
- The Music Scene
The day before Maren’s album drops, Keith Urban’s 2016 RipCord World Tour kicks off in Kansas City, Mo., on June 2. The tour will hit more than 50 cities through November with openers Maren and Brett Eldredge.
“It’s really unfathomable to me to be on a tour like that, this early of a stage,” says Maren. “It’s an honor to be involved, and I think it’s going to be such a fun tour. Just the talent, it’s going to be a hell of a soulful tour with these voices, that’s sort of the root of it. But also as a fan, I can’t wait to perform and then go watch the show every night.”
Maren will release a special version of her album on June 3, exclusively at Target. In addition to the standard 11 tracks, it will feature three bonus songs.
