Kip Moore has shared a new version of his recently released track “If I Was Your Lover” with vocals from acclaimed new artist Morgan Wade, available to listen here. Wade initially co-starred in the music video for the track alongside Moore, and following fervent fan requests for Wade to feature vocally, the pair hit the studio together to re-record the song.

Co-written by Moore with Matt Bubel, and co-produced with Jaren Johnston (The Cadillac Three), “If I Was Your Lover” garnered immediate attention from fans and critics for its ear worm qualities and accompanying sultry music video. 

Moore recently shared his electrifying new track “Fire On Wheels.” The song is a volume-up, groove-driven anthem that embodies the energy of Moore’s life out on the road as Moore currently undertakes his multi-city headlining FIRE ON WHEELS TOUR. Moore has invited special guests Boy Named Banjo to join him this fall, on the trek that will see Moore bring his renowned live show to cities across the country, as well as a stop in Canada. Fans can purchase tickets now at kipmoore.net.

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The post INTERVIEW: Morgan Wade on Deluxe Version of Reckless appeared first on off the record.

Following the critical acclaim for her debut album Reckless, including a spotlight as one of Rolling Stone’s Albums of 2021, Morgan Wade will release the deluxe version of the record this Friday, adding six new tracks onto the already stellar project. Over these six new tracks, Wade reveals a softer side to herself and her own artistry, revealing yet more vulnerable areas of her own psyche. Indeed, even her image is lighter – the album artwork is in colour – and this hopeful feel continues in these tracks that round out the project. 

The outlaw though remains on the deluxe tracks on Reckless, though it is released in a quietly free way. ‘When The Dirt Settles’ is a classic outlaw, free-wheelin’ lovesong with the refrain, ‘Ooh-ooh, like June and Johnny / Ooh-ooh, like Clyde and Bonnie / We run like rebels through the dust of the devil / But it’s you and me baby / When the dirt all settles.’ The intro is light touch – with notes reminding of an Americana-infused ‘Ice Ice Baby.’ It’s a thrumming, more joyful side than we have yet heard from Wade, though the haunted side of her persona is quickly returned to on ‘Run.’ Similarly, the outlaw side returns on ‘Carry Me Home’ – though the content of the track is dark, as Wade sings about becoming a different person and straying far from the person she wanted or used to be, there is a certain lightness to the track that was not always present on the main body of Reckless. The track feels nostalgic, imbued with the feel of The Eagles and 90s rock bands, replete with a searing guitar solo. ‘Carry me home / I’ve gone too far since I started to roam / Carry me home / I don’t want to spend another Virginia night alone.’ The track brims with regret and nostalgia, yet doesn’t feel as dark as the original part of Reckless. ‘Run’ follows a similar direction, as Wade sings about wanting to drown herself into a temporary distraction. ‘I was looking for the fire escape / You showed up without a second to waste / What if we run? What if we get away? / There ain’t a single reason for us to stay.’ It’s a more quietly sentimental track than we have heard in the darker edges of Reckless, though that haunted feel so present in Wade’s music remains, it tinges the edges rather than falling dead centre. ‘Run’ is one of her lighter, fresher sounds on Reckless – Deluxe, though retaining the poignancy of her delivery and her unique lyrical voice.

An undeniable highlight of these six tracks is’The Night’ – one of the most important tracks Wade has released to date, as she sings about the twists and turns of mental health. ‘Well I’d love to get to sleep but I can’t get too deep / Though I am doing the best that I can / My mind wants to talk about everything I’m not /  Even worse, everything I am / I tell my friends and they tell me that time will only do me well / But I won’t shut my mouth, is it a rule down in the south / That you can’t talk about your mental health.’ It’s a raw and vulnerable track that lays out her demons in a way that feels like a salvation for many, delivered in a fresh and lyrical voice that is staggering in its maturity and authenticity. This lies beside ‘Through Your Eyes’ – a gorgeous track about seeing the world through an innocence of a child’s eyes and yearning for that outlook on the world. ‘Oh the innocence of a child / Never afraid to let their thoughts run wild / I wish I could be that kind / I wish I could see the world through your eyes.’ Even under the thick and meaty instrumentation, there is a tender softness to Wade’s vocal that is compellingly rich.

A stunning and surprising cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ rounds out the record. It’s quite a feat to turn such an intimately known song into something utterly fresh and novel, but Wade has accomplished just like that. It’s masterstroke and sums up the slight pivot of these six songs. Although the content is as important and haunting as it ever was on Reckless, Wade has infused a lighter touch into some of these six songs that feels a more sustainable approach for a longer-term career, adding fire into her sets for live shows. More than anything, these six songs demonstrate that Wade has staying power and can continue to carry on delivering stellar quality and important music that stands apart from the current Nashville sonic landscape. As much as Reckless was acclaimed, it is clear that this is only the start for Wade. 

The post ALBUM REVIEW: Reckless (Deluxe Edition) – Morgan Wade appeared first on off the record.

[tps_title] 10. Ashland Craft – Travelin’ Kind [/tps_title]

Ashland Craft’s debut album Travelin’ Kind was a tour de force of a record, showcasing her impeccable, raspy vocal infused with a hefty country-rock production.

Read our full review here.

Stand-out Track: Your Momma Still Does

The post The Top 10 Best Country Albums of 2021 appeared first on off the record.

[tps_title] Arlo Parks, Collapsed in Sunbeams [/tps_title]

Arlo Parks’ infuses eclectic influences into her lyrics and music – from jazz to RnB, in the effortlessly cool and laid back Collapsed in Sunbeams that has been supported by the likes of Michelle Obama and Phoebe Bridgers. It’s a sharply observant debut couched in easily, grooving instrumentation, melodies that flow with ease – we can’t get enough.

Stand-out Track: Cola

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The post INTERVIEW: Morgan Wade on Debut Album ‘Reckless’ and Perseverance appeared first on off the record.

The post INTERVIEW: Morgan Wade Talks To Brooke Reese about the Creation of Reckless appeared first on off the record.

Pre-order the record here now.

Not since Ashley McBryde’s phenomenal debut record Girl Goin’ Nowhere have we been so caught off guard by a debut record. Today, singer/songwriter Morgan Wade releases her anticipated debut studio record Reckless and it is poised, genre-defying perfection. She’s created a heady sonic landscape within the record that allows her to merge and fuse genres together in a way that is powerfully unique, combined with her extraordinary and poignant vocal tone. Wade’s vocal is raspy, rock-tinged bliss and is showcased throughout, front and centre, lacing throughout powerful and complicated lyrics that strike close to home – covering heavy topics that feel incredibly human. Credit to her producer, Sadler Vaden, who has created a broad and diverse soundscape that sits outside the current commercial Nashville sound, given its rock-edged and grittier sound.

The record opens with rock ballad ‘Wilder Days’ – a wistful track, wishing to have met a lover in ‘wilder days.’  ‘I wish I’d known you in your wilder days / Now here we go, you’ve got me falling in love again / You’ve got a secret and I want to keep it.’ It’s a rip-roaring, achingly wistful track, with a sentiment carried into later track ‘Other Side’ – a nostalgic trip down romantic memory lane. ‘These days when I look back, I just have to laugh. / They all said that you and I would never last. / I’ve made my share of mistakes and we left that in the past / These days when I look back, I just have to laugh.’ In the track, Wade shakes and dances out the toxins of the past, moving to the ‘other side’ of love, professing her ‘gypsy heart.’ It’s the kind of track that moves with abandon, rife with percussion that seems to take motifs from Fleetwood Mac in their heyday. 

On ‘Matches and Metaphors,’ Wade’s vocal possesses a more fragile tone that wouldn’t be out of place in 70s rock ballads. In the track, Wade yearns not to care, whilst making it intensely clear that she does in her speech to a lover, ‘I wrote you a letter, I threw it in the trash. / Got it out, lit it with a match. I’m not gonna tell you how I feel, / It’s overrated but damn, it’s real.’ There’s a real vulnerability in her lyrics that bares her soul to the world, as is the case in later track ‘Mend,’ where Wade embraces her flaws and brokenness. There’s something so incredibly raw and real about the straightforward motif throughout the record –  ‘I’m so broken. / I hope you can mend me’ that is both devastating and brave in equal measure. Similarly vulnerable is later track, ‘Take Me Away,’ where Wade lays her heart on the line. ‘I’m so tired of being alone… I want to feel something. / Take me away.’ The most stunning case of this vulnerability is in the final track of the record, ‘Met You,’ a quieter, stripped-back track in which Wade sings, ‘You were right and you left and I’m wondering what / The hell I should do. / I’d seen it all, or so I thought, / Until I met you.’ It’s a quieter, plaintive and soul-destroying track that shows Wade’s full potential. 

‘Don’t Cry’ is the closest to a straight rock track that you’ll get on Reckless. It’s a powerful track, putting Wade’s raspy and unique vocal at centre stage, embracing the dark side of hard times. Similarly, ‘Reckless’ seethes with a quiet bitterness at moving on and being left cold – a quieter, angrier track about the results of being left and proffers another side at Wade’s stunning vocal – as does, ‘Northern Air,’ where Wade ponders whether her ex-lover thinks of her. Taking an incredibly different sonic note, ‘Last Cigarette’ deals with the addictive qualities of love. ‘I want you one last time. / Another hit to ease my mind. / I don’t want you to be over yet,  / Won’t you be my last cigarette?’ 

The record is both compelling and intoxicating, seamlessly fusing country and rock together – a record that is immensely layered, complicated and palatable. Wade’s vocal range is immense on the record and her vocal shines throughout – a devastating and human record that positions Wade as one to watch in the coming years.

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