‘What’s the alternative? It has to be all right’: Maren Morris on her new album & speaking her mind

The story goes that when Maren Morris was a teenager, she auditioned for a series of TV music competition shows: “American Idol,” “America’s Got Talent,” “The Voice” – you know the ones. But she never got a call back.

A few years later, the contestants on those shows would be imitating her, literally singing her songs. Revenge can be sweet – but not nearly as sweet as all the hits she’s had since her 2015 breakout on Spotify with songs like “My Church,” “80s Mercedes,” “The Middle” with Zedd and Grey, “The Bones,” plus her work with The Highwomen, hit albums like “Girl” and “Humble Quest” and her latest release, her first new album in three years, “Dreamsicle.”

Morris stopped by the Texas Standard studio to share more about her new album and speaking up for what she believes in.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: I heard you got your start back when you were a little girl, maybe 10 or 11, in your parents’ beauty shop. Is that right, that you were doing karaoke to Patsy Cline and LeAnn Rimes? 

Maren Morris: Yeah, my parents, my mom still does hair, but they owned a salon for many years. And my little sister and I would work behind the front desk; we would sweep hair, make coffee.

But every Christmas they would have a holiday party for their employees, and there was a karaoke machine. And I remember it was at our house, so the party was downstairs. And I was supposed to be asleep, and I would just sneak down the stairs and take over the karaoke machine. 

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And kind of blow everybody away, it sounds like. Was there a moment when you were young where you thought, “this is what I want to do”? Not just sing – I mean, you’re a performer as well. Was there something that kind of tripped that switch? 

Yeah, LeAnn Rimes is from, I believe, Mesquite, Texas. And at the time she had that massive song, “Blue,” and “How Do I Live.” And it was, you know, the ’90s, but it was feeling like a realistic goal because she was only a few years older than me. I was probably 9 or 10.

And she made it seem like, oh, getting a record deal, performing on stage … There was a venue that’s since been replaced by something else, Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue. You would audition and just sing cover songs, but it was the first time I ever performed on stage with a live band.

So being 10 years old, 11 years old, having that experience, that’s kind of what made the snowball start to roll down the hill. And my parents were just always very supportive. 

I want to ask you about “Dreamsicle,” which is a fantastic album, congratulations. The first single off of the album, “People Still Show Up” – who are you talking to there?

I think I’m talking to myself. I mean, I went through a lot of personal life stuff the last few years. And I wrote that song – I was up in New York writing with my friend Laura Veltz and Jack Antonoff, and we were at Electric Lady Studios.

No, we were all kind of in a weird funk of like, are we gonna be okay? Just as a people. And the sort of optimism of addressing like what we’re having anxieties about, but then being like, you know what? Like, what’s the alternative? Like, it has to be all right.

Are you talking about like sort of the zeitgeist, the political and the social sort of thing that’s going on?

Yeah, obviously like it’s coming from a personal level – which I think a lot of things have to when you’re writing a song – but grasping this like larger role of, can I talk to a mass of people through this song without making it seem preachy?

So yeah, the hook just being like, at the end of the day, it’s like the people you at least think are gonna roll up and like help you move, like they roll up in a pickup truck and people still show up.

I mean, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have sort of the weight of millions of eyes, you know, looking at you; you’re in the spotlight, and I don’t know if it’s feeling like you have to please everyone, because you can’t please everyone, but at the same time, sort of feeling like you’re being judged all the time. I mean, especially someone in your position.

Have you struggled with this idea of being able to speak about issues that are of concern to you? You know, look at what happened with the Dixie Chicks and the backlash, right? I mean, do you struggle with that, or have you sort of made your peace with it?

I mean, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t struggled with it. I think it’s a wave of ride the wave of when you feel like in your bones, you need to speak your piece or speak up for a group of people that can’t speak up for themselves, especially with this platform.

I’ve had the choice set in front of me many times of like, just shut up and sing, collect the check, and just be a very like two-dimensional kind of artist. And I’m not judging anyone for not speaking up. Some artists, that is totally okay. And a lot of listeners just want that out of what they’re listening to, who they’re listening to. And I respect that.

But for me, I’m one of hundreds of thousands of artists that are walking this planet. And with what I’ve been given and also worked for, I wanna use my time on this planet to, yes, write songs – that’s a huge tool of like, my talent – but I also feel really deeply on an empathetic level for marginalized communities.

And I think also now – my son is 5 years old – something really crystallized after becoming a mother.

How do you mean?

It wasn’t just for me anymore. It was like, I’m hoping to leave something behind for him and his children, knowing that I stood on the right side of things and I wasn’t afraid.

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Maren, I’ve often, when we get a chance to talk with artists, especially of your stature, I’ll say, well, what’s your favorite song on the album, right?

Thinking back to what you were just saying about wanting to make a difference, is there one on this album that you feel like kind of hits right the way you want it to when it comes to… You’re nodding already.

Well, it’s so hard to like pick a favorite child. That’s how it feels, especially it’s like a new record and you’re like, “all of these are my favorite.”

It’s a two-way tie, I think, between the song “Grand Bouquet” – I think just musically, it’s something that I have not tapped into before. So that was really refreshing, even though it’s a really bittersweet song.

And then the other song, it’s complete opposite in production, but I love it so much because it reminds me of like an Irish pub song/like “Delta Dawn,” is my song “Too Good” because I was like, I’ve never started anything with an a cappella chorus.

That’s cool. That’s really fun.

I think that’s the best part of being creative or songwriting is, like, daring to suck. How ridiculous can you be? How far can you take the joke until you’re like, wait, I think we actually found something. So you have to like find the magic in like the silliness.

Listen to an extended interview with Maren Morris in the audio player at the top of this story.

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