Maren Morris ‘Freely Moving Forward’ Beyond Country Music

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Maren Morris. Photo: Morgan Foitle

Maren Morris is entering her next era of music in a new phase, “honoring where [she’s] been and what [she’s] achieved in country music, but also freely moving forward.”

The Grammy winner expressed her feelings about the next step of her journey with the release of a two-track EP, The Bridge. The project’s new tracks include “The Tree,” produced by Greg Kurstin, and “Get the Hell Out of Here,” produced by Jack Antonoff with Morris and Jimmy Robbins. Morris co-wrote both songs with Robbins and Laura Veltz.

The new music is released via Columbia Records out of New York, migrating Morris from Sony Music Nashville to the mainstream imprint.

About The Bridge, Morris shares, “These two songs are incredibly key to my next step because they express a very righteously angry and liberating phase of my life these last couple of years but also how my navigation is finally pointing towards the future, whatever that may be or sound like. Honoring where I’ve been and what I’ve achieved in country music, but also freely moving forward.

“‘The Tree’ is about a toxic ‘family tree’ burning itself to the ground. Halfway through, I realize it’s burning itself down without any of my help. This song evokes the pain of exhausting all your love and time for this person or ‘entity’ but realizing it’s just a draining, transactional relationship that isn’t nourishing in any healthy way. By the end of the song, I give myself permission to face the sun, plant new seeds where it’s safer to grow and realize that sometimes there IS greener grass elsewhere.”

She adds, “‘Get the Hell Out of Here’ is the part two to the tree burning. Being quite literally burned out, this is a story of me feeling pulled in every direction, needing everyone else’s understanding and acceptance but my own and how self-destructive that ultimately became. I relinquish control of trying to change everyone’s mind or bad behavior and focus on my own power going forward. Doing the right thing can feel lonely at times, but there are more friends than foes, so I finally quit making myself one of them.’”

Since impacting country music in 2016 with her debut single “My Church,” Morris has released three critically acclaimed albums, 2016’s Hero, 2019’s Girl and 2022’s Humble Quest. In addition to a Grammy win and 17 nominations, Morris has won five ACM Awards, five CMA Awards and three Billboard Music Awards, with several additional wins and nominations. She’s broken streaming records and celebrated hits such as “80’s Mercedes”, “I Could Use a Love Song,” “Rich,” “Girl,” “The Bones,” “Circles Around This Town” and more, as well as her six-time Platinum collaboration with Zedd, “The Middle.”

Morris is about to wrap her arena tour with The Chicks in Canada, following a run of European dates and a sold-out headline show at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town earlier this summer.

LB Cantrell
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