Megan Moroney Rocks Nashville on Her First-Ever Headlining Tour

Moroney performing at Nashville’s Exit/In on April 19th.

Megan Moroney is not your average southern belle. She’s a self-proclaimed “pistol made of roses” with enviable long, blonde locks, a killer wardrobe, and a jovial demeanor that’s just sassy enough to make all of her exes regret their lying, cheating ways for the rest of their lives.

Moroney, who hails from Georgia and grew up in a musical household, has been singing since she was little. Yet, she just recently burst onto the music scene last year with her first EP, “Pistol Made of Roses,” and breakout song “Tennessee Orange,” which many speculate is about Morgan Wallen.

The twenty-five-year-old began writing her own songs while still attending the University of Georgia, and quickly fell in love with the art. Upon graduating in 2020 with a degree in marketing and music business, she moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting more seriously. Fast forward three years, and she’s now the reigning queen of the CMT Breakthrough Female Video of the Year category thanks to her hit “Tennessee Orange.” Taylor Swift was honored with the same award in 2008 for “Our Song” and again in 2009 for “Love Story.”

This April, Moroney embarked on her first headlining tour, which is aptly named after her EP. Logan Crosby, Jason Aldean’s cousin and a fellow Georgia-native, is opening for her.

At her Nashville show at the Exit/In on April 19th, the enthusiasm in the crowd was palpable. After all, Nashville is where songs are written, and Moroney is arguably country music’s most exciting rising star.

Megan sang all six songs off of her “Pistol Made of Roses” EP, as well as her newest hits “Tennessee Orange,” “I’m Not Pretty,” and “Girl in the Mirror.” She even surprised fans with four songs from her upcoming debut album, “Lucky,” including “Sleep on My Side,” “Traitor Joe,” “Sad Songs for Sad People,” and the highly-anticipated “Why Johnny.”

Moroney, who typically writes exclusively about the ups and downs of her own romantic relationships, introduced each song with a brief background of how the song came to be.

On the iconic “Why Johnny,” she explained that the song is essentially a letter to June Carter, in which she asks her how she knew that Johnny Cash was the “one.” Moroney wrote the song with Conor Matthews, who pitched the song concept and suggested that it be about why Johnny Cash set the bar so high for men.

“Everybody knows that Johnny wrote love letters to June every day, and they’re just an iconic love story,” Moroney told the crowd. She shared that she was excited to write about the lovebirds, but admitted that she didn’t know a lot about them originally, so she did some research into the timeline of their relationship. “We found out that when they met, they were married to two different people – messy!” Moroney laughed. “Johnny was an alcoholic who struggled with substance abuse, and June stuck with him the whole time. I wondered how she knew he was going to get past all of that and be writing her love letters every day – how she knew to stick with him and not leave.”

Moroney inquisitively croons in the song, “Did you always know he’d come around, change his ways, and settle down? Did your friends call you crazy too? It’d sure help if I knew. Hey, June, why Johnny?”

On “Hair Salon,” the second-ever single Megan released, she shared, “The guy that I wrote this about is the reason why I started writing songs. He broke my heart so bad that I needed songwriting as therapy.”

Based on a dream Moroney had, the song is about an experience at her hometown hair salon in which she overheard a girl three chairs down from her talking about how one of Moroney’s ex-boyfriends found the “one” and bought a ring, which in turn caused Moroney to feel “heartbroken.” True to form, she sings,“I’m lookin’ out the window hoping they don’t see the tear in my eye, I can hardly breathe, in the last place I thought you’d ever get to me.”

In the end, however, part of “Hair Salon” became a reality. Megan informed the audience, “He finally did find the one and buy a ring, and the day that he got engaged was the same day that I won a CMT award, and so I think that was God being like, ‘You know what? You’re not that guy’s girlfriend, you’re Megan Moroney.’ And this is a lot cooler.” The crowd then exploded with cheers and applause.

After she wrapped up the show with a powerful performance of “Tennessee Orange” and walked backstage, the crowd began chanting, demanding an encore. Happy to comply, Moroney walked back onstage and sang “Lucky,” the title track from her upcoming debut album.

Overall, Moroney’s Nashville stop on her first-ever headlining tour was, as expected, an emotional rollercoaster. From her empowering introduction to “Hair Salon” and her hilarious commentary on “Keep the Flowers” to her tear-jerking acoustic performances of “Fix You Too” and “Girl in the Mirror,” Moroney kept fans engaged the entire night.

It’s clear from her recent rocket to fame that she has a bright future ahead. Few artists are able to accomplish all that Moroney has in such a short period of time. With a cult following and incredibly catchy songs that even grown men fight singing along to, Megan Moroney is the future of country music.