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EP REVIEW: Life Upside Down – Morgan Evans

Imogen Marshall — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 06:02:00 +0000

Following a turbulent year, Morgan Evans returns today with his new EP – Life Upside Down.

After a turbulent year, in the wake of the announcement of his divorce to Kelsea Ballerini this summer, Morgan Evans has returned – not with a despondent or bitter statement on his breakup – but a joyfully hopeful and optimistic collection of his songs, on his Life Upside Down EP, out everywhere today. The collection of songs offers a picture of where Evans is right now, both personally and musically, as he sings ‘it’s all coming up daisies’ this project is proof of that.

When Evans stepped onto the stage at C2C, there was something electric in his performances. That energy has sometimes been lacking when he translates his live set into the studio iterations of his tracks, until this EP. Across these four songs (and another live version), he infuses the energy of a live set into the recorded versions – from the spellbinding nature of the moments of connection he finds with the crowd (‘Over For You’) to the easy breezy, foot-stomping electricity of the party anthems (‘Hey Little Mama’ and ‘All Right Here’). The EP kicks off with ‘Over For You,’ a stunningly tender track that questions his ex-lover on when their love was over for her, questioning, ‘I’m just wondering, how long has it been over for you?’ More than anything, the track feels immensely loving, before moving on to ‘On My Own Again,’ where Evans questions how he got back to this stage in his life, but looks hopefully to the future. ‘I’m gonna drive until the wheels fall off this old truck in my heart / If forever’s gonna end like that, I guess I’d better start / The rest of my life, like the best times, up around the bend.’

The following two tracks on the EP are more easy and breezy, following on from this relatively hurt place. ‘Hey Little Mama’ is flirty and fun, whereas ‘All Right Here’ outlines ‘it’s all good, all gravy.’ More than anything, the EP is pure delight and charm, laying the stage for a new era in Evan’s music, and that era feels immensely hopeful and optimistic.

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Morgan Evans Announces New EP – Life Upside Down

Imogen Marshall — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Following the release of his new track ‘On My Own Again,’ Morgan Evans has announced that his new EP – Life Upside Down – will be released on 21 April.

Morgan Evans has released the music video for his latest song, ‘On My Own Again’, via YouTube Premiere. The emotional but uplifting track, written by Evans alongside Zach Kale, Geoff Warburton and produced by Chris DeStefano, is taken off his upcoming Life Upside Down EP, that he has announced will be available on 21 April. The beautifully shot video showcases Evans’ travels from around the world as he picks up the pieces and looks forward to a life full of thrilling uncertainty.

“8 shows, 7 countries, 3 bicycles, 2 goats & 1 camel. For a song documenting a poignant moment in my life, I thought it’d be appropriate to make a video the same way. I invited the guys behind the ‘Over For You’ music video and the docuseries on the road in Morocco, Europe, Ireland and the UK for one of the adventures of my life so far.” – Morgan Evans

Life Upside Down EP Track Listing:

Over For You
On My Own Again
Hey Little Mama
All Right Here
Over For You (Live in Melbourne)

PRE-SAVE: Life Upside Down EP

“I called the EP ‘Life Upside Down’ because this collection of music could only have come from this time, when my life felt exactly that. To me, these five tracks journey through unexpected heartbreak, self-rediscovery, new beginnings and a new found gratitude for the present moment.” – Morgan Evans

Recently, Evans wrapped his co-headlining U.K. Day Drunk Me Tour with Mitchell Tenpenny and performances on three headlining stages at C2C Festival, including to a crowd of 20,000+ in London. He is currently on the road with Brett Young in the states for Young’s 5 Tour 3 2 1 and will also provide support on select dates with Billy Currington.

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Morgan Evans Releases Five-Part Documentary Series

Imogen Marshall — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Morgan Evans has released a new five-part documentary series to accompany the release of his new single ‘Over For You.’

“’Over For You’ is me singing what I’m feeling.” – Morgan Evans. In addition to showcasing his music, Evans is bringing viewers along on the ups and downs of his 2022 musical journey with a five-part documentary series, out now. The series takes you along in Australia and New Zealand, including CMC Rocks QLD Festival, where he debuted the single for 25,000 people. “This song is the most personal thing I’ve ever written and the most personal thing I’ve ever shared,” said Evans.

Directed by Peter John, the docuseries brings viewers backstage and back home where Evans grew up. After a year of planning and just weeks before shooting, Evans went through a divorce. That’s when Evans sat down to write what he calls “the song from my heart.” The CMC Rocks performance received hundreds of thousands of views on social media. In response, ‘Over For You – Live in Melbourne‘ was then recorded and released to DSPs. “It felt like channeling all that sort of awfulness into something positive,” said Evans.

More than a show, Evans says the song became a release. “I didn’t realize that I was going to feel this, but after I played it at CMC Rocks, I did feel a weight off my chest.” Evans recently released the music video for ‘Over For You.’ ). Also directed by Peter John, the video was captured in tandem with the documentary.

Praise for ‘Over For You’ has ranged from Us Weekly, E!, Entertainment Tonight, The Bobby Bones Show, Taste of Country and more. Describing the single, Billboard writes,“many of the best songs come from heartbreak, and this is absolutely one of Evans’ best releases to date.” People describes Evans “channeling his heartbreak into song,” and CMT says Evans “places his heart on the line.”

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Morgan Evans Announces London Headline Show

Imogen Marshall — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 06:00:45 +0000

Morgan Evans returns to the UK for London headline show and arena dates with Brad Paisley.

Australian-born star, Morgan Evans, is set to make his highly anticipated return to the UK next month, with a headlining show at the Lafayette in London. Following this show, he’ll join Brad Paisley to play two arena dates at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow and the 3Arena in Dublin, as part of a world tour which will also find them sharing the stage in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Australia, and New Zealand. Tickets for Evans’ London show are available to purchase here.

The tour, which will be Evans’ first time back in the UK/Ireland since 2019, will see him performing fan-favourites along with songs off his new EP, The Country and the Coast: Side A (released in Oct ‘21). After years of touring as a solo artist with a loop pedal, Evans teamed up with award-winning producer Dann Huff and returned to his roots by building his sound for the project around a full band experience.

Speaking on his return to the UK and Ireland, Evans says, “I couldn’t be more stoked to get over to play some more shows in the UK and Europe this year! I think the almost underground nature of Country music in those parts of the world makes for some of the most hardcore fans and most fun shows I’ve ever played!”

Evans’ recently wrapped a successful weekend at CMA Fest ‘22 in Nashville, where he hosted an intimate Fan Party and played the highly coveted Riverfront Stage on Friday, 10 June. The set included Evan’s current single ‘Country Outta My Girl.’ Morgan recently teamed up with Weezer’s lead-vocalist, Rivers Cuomo, to release their take on the single – available to listen to here.

Already established as a global country force, the singer/songwriter and entertainer has also teamed up with Apple Music to share his global perspective on the country genre and showcase performers from all over the world on Country Wide Radio with Morgan Evans. Evans has toured with artists including Taylor Swift, Dan + Shay, Cole Swindell, Brett Eldredge, Old Dominion, Rascal Flatts and Chris Young in addition to sharing his own one-of-a-kind headline sets with sold-out audiences spanning eight countries across three continents.

MORGAN EVANS 2022 UK/IRELAND TOUR DATES

14 July – London, UK – The Lafayette

15 July – Glasgow, Scotland – Ovo Hydro*

16 July – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena*

* with Brad Paisley

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INTERVIEW: Morgan Evans on New EP – The Country and the Coast Side A

Imogen Marshall — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 06:00:05 +0000

Morgan Evans joins Kelleigh Bannen for an interview on Today’s Country Radio to talk about his new EP ‘The Country And The Coast Side A,’ protecting his privacy with wife Kelsea Ballerini, hosting Country Wide Radio on Apple Music Country and more. Tune in and listen to the episode in-full on-demand here.

Morgan Evans Discusses What Has Happened in the Three Years Since He’s Released an Album

That was a pretty specific point in time for me. I was new in America, meeting my wife [Kelsea Ballerini] like that. That was all kind of the main things that were happening there. And then I think I spent the next couple of years after that just promoting that record. You know what that feels like. You put out your first music, that first single kind of takes forever and then you finally get the next song and the next song out. I got to experience America for the first time, which was great. Went on all the big tours for the first time with Chris Young and Kane Brown and Dan and Shay. It was a big deal. That was kind of a really exciting time. That kind of culminated in the world tour we did at the end of 2019, which after doing all those opening spots, I got to go do my own shows. That was awesome. That’s probably my favorite three months of touring I’ve ever done. We did all over America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand. Yeah, then 2020 had such grand plans, but like everyone, they kind of died and it was kind of a long year and a half for me personally and creatively. So this music and now this moment with no masks doing the interview is kind of the feeling of that ending.

Morgan Evans on “Love Is Real”

“Love Is Real” was definitely the first step in this whole thing. It felt like it did when we wrote “Kiss Somebody.” I remember when we wrote that song, it was like, “Okay, the rest of the album starts there.” And so this was during a writing camp in September last year. It was kind of the first time that we’d been around other humans for six months or something. So it was a very inspiring time. I had the title for a little while and every time I went to write the title, I would get too clever about it. I would try to like say things that weren’t real and then say… You know what I mean? And that always just feels like you’re too planned. So I think the whole point of this song was just to capture that feeling of one of those moments where everything’s right in the world.

Morgan Evans on Protecting His Privacy with Wife Kelsea Ballerini

Look, if you’d have asked me this before I met Kelsea, I would’ve said, “Absolutely, I’m completely private. I don’t want to talk about this.” But I don’t get a choice in that. She’s just like, it’s all out there. I remember the first time she posted about us being together, I was like, “Let’s not post about this, because we’re going to have to talk about it. If it doesn’t work out, we’re going to have to talk about that. Let’s just not.” She just did. That has been very relaxing because I don’t have to be cagey or anything like that. I find it very easy to talk about and inevitably I’m going to write about it. So it makes that easy too.

Morgan Evans on Growing Up as a Country Music Kid in Australia

Growing up, [country music] definitely wasn’t around as much in my hometown of Newcastle at least. But my folks are from a town called Armidale, which is out West in the country. And we grew up on a bunch of Aussie country music and these six country music albums that they got in America when they came here for my uncle’s wedding… It was Garth Brooks ‘The Hits.’ Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, ‘Twenty Years of Dirt.’ So the one before “Fishin’ In The Dark.” Glen Campbell, The Green, ‘Best Of…’ It was a Best of Eagles…. Very 80s… or earlier. Yeah. 70s, 80s. That Nitty Gritty Dirt Band… It’s funny too, your perspective when I moved here, to me, those Nitty Gritty Dirt Band songs were the biggest hits in country music because that’s what I grew up listening to. And whenever I say that name, everyone’s singing “Fishin’ In The Dark.” I’m like, “I didn’t even know that.” And then so I had to learn that when I got here. It’s a funny perspective you grow up with. But obviously in Australia too, we have our own legends of country music. And that was a big influence on me as well.

Morgan Evans on Hosting His Own Show, Country Wide Radio, on Apple Music Country

I just love it. I’m so passionate about traveling. And I think growing up in Australia maybe when I did, when country music wasn’t as mainstream as it was here, in Australia, but me being so in love with it and then sort of being passionate about sharing that. I remember my first job was working at a CD store… It was called “In 2 Music.” But the “two” was the number “2” of course. It was the day before Keith Urban’s song “Days Go By” came out… And we got CD singles in and I was like, “I need to take this home.” And my boss let me take it home to listen to it all night. And the next day I just played it all day long. To me, people were just coming up to the counter, “What is this?” And I was like, “Well, it’s this guy. He’s Australian.” To me, having this show is being able to do that with artists all over the world.

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INTERVIEW: Ward Thomas on UK Country, Collaborations and more

Imogen Marshall — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 06:00:13 +0000

Country music has an increasingly global reach. Australian artist and radio host Morgan Evans brings his global perspective to Country Wide Radio every other week on Apple Music Country, showcasing performers listeners will love from all over the world. In the latest episode, Morgan chats to Ward Thomas about the UK scene, their collaborations and starting their own environmental initiative, ‘Busking For Our Planet.’ Listen to the full interview on demand here.

Ward Thomas On The UK Country Music Scene…

It’s grown massively over the last kind of six years. But before, country music used to be misunderstood. People didn’t really understand what country music was over here until more recently. It used to be like Country and Western, but we’re like, no, no, no. That’s a different genre within the country umbrella altogether. I think it’s funny because when we went to Australia for CMC Rocks, it’s actually when we first met you [Morgan Evans]. I remember we were going Australia and it was way ahead. You guys are, I feel like, maybe 10 years or 20 years ahead of us. We’re a little bit farther behind. We’re just catching up. So, it’s still very much like a niche thing that people enjoy. And the people that come to the shows are still the people that have sought you out and looked for you. But it’s amazing. There’s a really wonderful community.

Ward Thomas On Working With James Blunt on ‘Halfway’…

Yeah, that was really fun! James wrote the song and he wanted it to be a duet. He’d originally planned for it to be a solo and he’s recorded it as a solo track but then he really wanted it to be a duet and it’s got a very country vibe to it. He wanted to get on the country band wagon! And he reached out to us, I think he’d worked with someone we’d worked with. He just got in touch and said ‘Do you guys fancy it?’ So we went and recorded some vocals, because he lives in Ibiza, it’s alright for some! So we FaceTimed him and he was there at the studio on a phone… which now is very normal but back then it wasn’t. So we sent him the vocals, it all got mixed and then we went on tour with him, right before everything went crazy and we had to lockdown. So, it was like a really small, lovely moment of momentum and then it all came crashing down. There was an after party after every show! We can’t really keep up with him and his band. We were always going to bed earlier than everyone else.

Ward Thomas On Working With Cam On The Song ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’…

We wrote that song, funnily enough, ages ago. But also we wrote it with another artist called Fiona Bevan. When we did the demo, I think that song just lent itself to having another voice on it as well. And we actually reached out to her because we just thought her voice would sound so great on this song and would just lift the choruses massively. And she said, “Yes, send the song I’d love to hear it.” And she heard it and she loved it, and she wanted to get involved. And so that was really, really fun because we’d met her a few times and she’s been really supportive of the both of us and we’ve done some social media stuff with her in the past. And she’s just so cool. Just the coolest person. So we were really excited that she wanted to sing on our song.

Ward Thomas On Fundraising Project ‘Busking For Our Planet’…

We really wanted to do something for our environment because we’re both really passionate about our environment. It’s the most important thing at the moment. We feel the planet is really suffering, and we wanted to do our bit in some way. And we thought, “Let’s sing. Let’s sing and busk.” That’s what we do best. Let’s do it every week, and try and raise as much money as possible. And we set a massive goal for us, which is like £100,000. It’s really fun as well for us to go out to different cities around the country and play in front of people. Again, we haven’t done that for more than a year. So to actually go out and see people in the flesh and play brand new songs and play covers and play old songs, it’s a busking environment where there’s no pressure. So it’s just quite fun. And it’s a really good way of us honing in on how we want to play our songs live when we finally go on tour in November.

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