Having just released his self-titled debut, award-winning singer-songwriter Morgan Evans chats to the AU about sharing the stage with everyone from Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen, as well as cleaning up at CMC awards, recording in Nashville, and the latest album.
You’ve had the opportunity to share the stage with some amazing talents over the years. What have been some of the highlights and what do you learn as a performer watching talents like them?
There are sooo many highlights. The Taylor Swift tour was an absolute buzz! They weren’t the biggest crowds we’d played to but they were definitely the craziest. Watching and feeling that connection with a crowd was inspiring.
That connection with an audience is what it’s all about for me. Those artists operating at that top level are the best at it, from Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen! I think I learn something different every time I watch a show but the more I watch the more I feel like honesty, transparency and humility are the best policies!
What did winning the ‘CMC New Oz Artist of the Year award at the CMC Music Awards” mean to you?
Well that was a year ago now and the 12 months since have been the best of my life!!! I don’t think anybody makes music for awards but the CMC Awards are extremely important to me because they are completely fan voted.
The fact that there are people out there so into what I’m trying to do that they’ll spend their spare time voting is incredible. It makes me want to be better and really give back everything I can through my music and my time.
Your debut album comes out on Friday – tell us when the process started to put this album together? How long have you been working on the material we’ll hear on it?
Ha! The full answer to this question would be my life story to date, but I won’t put you through that! It feels like it’s taken a lifetime, and in some ways it has, but in reality this group of songs has come from the last 2 years. Through writing here, in Australia, and numerous trips to the US to find a new creative space and work with some of the best in the business.
Do you remember the first song you wrote? Can you tell us anything about it?
The first song I wrote was a song called “LIFE”. I was 13 and it started with a stolen a Metallica riff. My first band gig was at the school music night and we played it & “Just Ace” by Grinspoon.
I remember my first co-write like it was yesterday … It was with my best buddy Mark Wells. I’d known him for a while, we both played in bands around Newcastle, and one year I ended up in one of his classes at University. I asked him if he might be interested in having a go at “this co-writing thing.” He said yeah and we spent the next three days in my garage grinding this song out. Yes, THREE DAYS!!! It’s called “There’s No Time” and it was a B-Side on my first single “Big Skies”.
We don’t play it live anymore but it’ll always hold a little place in my heart as the song that won the Telstra Road To Tamworth for me, in 2007, and also the start of a long songwriting partnership that continues today with the first single from my new album “One Eye For An Eye”.
Tell us what drew you to Nashville and what the experience was like recording there?
I think it’s natural for anyone that’s interested in Country music to want to check out Nashville. It’s the birthplace. The home. It really is music city and people from all over the world travel there to be creative!
My first trip was part of a prize package that included some recording time. That’s when I recorded my first single in 2 takes in a studio on Music Row called “The Funhouse”.
Since then I’ve had a range of experiences from recording the “While We’re Young” EP (with some of the biggest names in town) and numerous demo sessions.
The album band were cast very deliberately by producer Jedd Hughes. They weren’t the biggest names in town. Rather they were young, cool, extremely talented and above all else willing to try some new things. They were really open to ideas and jamming things out and I think that really helped us to make a record with an identity of it’s own rather than “just another album recorded in Nashville”.
What is a day in the studio like with Jedd Hughes?
Unpredictable is the first word that comes to mind! He’s a creative soul and understands that the greatest ideas don’t come when you’re trying too hard.
We’d start later than a regular session, round midday. For each song we’d listen to an acoustic demo and have a quick chat about the kind of vibe we were looking for, then we’d all jump on our instruments and go for it!
It was a crazy experience for me, this album obviously means a lot to me so watching and feeling it come together in front of my eyes and through my headphone was exhilarating!
Tell us how you came to work with Kasey Chambers on the track and what that experience was like?
I’m a Kasey Chambers fan. I’d known her for quite a while, through mutual friends, but we got to know each other better when we both performed at a festival in WA last year.
After that Kasey came up to CMC Rocks The Hunter and sang harmonies on my song Carry On. She sounded amazing!!! Then later that year she crashed my show at The Deni Ute Muster in front of 20 odd thousand people … I loved the way our voices sounded together so after we cut “The Cape” for the album calling Kasey was the first thing on my to do list!
Thankfully she said YES and I couldn’t be happier with how the song came to life.
What do you hope people take away from the album when they listen to it?
Well, above all else I hope they like it! Ha! But hopefully they’ll get to know me better, hopefully they’ll hear a little of themselves in there and hopefully they’ll find some thing new in each track every time they listen.
We worked extremely hard on it and I put everything I have into it and at the end of the day it’s something I’m very proud of no matter what happens next.
What happens for you after the album release shows in March? What is the rest of 2014 holding for you?
I have trouble looking too far ahead! We’ll be travelling far and wide to let people know about the album, of course. Honestly though, as long as I’m playing this music somewhere I’ll be a happy man!
Where is your favourite place to perform music?
Any place with a band, a bar and a bunch of people ready to have a good time!
Morgan Evans’ self-titled debut album is available across Australia now
