As, mid-set, Morgan Wallen climbed on to a small B-stage out by the barriers with an acoustic guitar, posses of glamorous cowgirls stampeded across the Hyde Park prairies to hear him tell his sawdust-to-superstar story. “We started out playing bars to 50 people,” the Tennessee country-pop troubadour told his audience of 65,000, spinning a classic homemade hero yarn to explain how he ended up as British Summer Time 2024’s most out-of-the-blue headliner.
But, like the first-time buyers keeping their huge inheritance for page 12 of the property section, this 31-year-old country phenomenon — who, post-pandemic, regularly outstreams Taylor Swift and Drake and dominates US charts with sprawling, 30-plus-track albums such as 2023’s One Thing at a Time — omits key (heel)steps. His appearance on America’s The Voice in 2014, endorsed by Usher and Adam Levine. Chart-friendly collaborations with Eric Church and Post Malone. His TikTok blow-up. And a candid video from 2021 showing him drunkenly shouting the n-word at friends, which saw him disqualified from the Grammys — but didn’t stop his second album, Dangerous, becoming the third most streamed of that year.
Wallen’s success is a key driver in country music currently having its umpteenth “moment”; it’s the fastest-growing genre in the UK and resurgent in the US, where Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey are among the mainstream artists updating the style for modern audiences. As Wallen bounced on stage in all-white barwear to the EDM whomps of Ain’t That Some, trademark mullet hidden beneath a gas attendant’s cap, his secret was immediately obvious. His songs of evil whiskeys, broken relationships, redneck honour and dustland ennui came drenched in rave-rap sizzles, R’n’B click-beats and boyband balladry. Right down to the boozy scandal, he was a ten-gallon Timberlake.
The Spotify algorithm could have invented him on its tea break — much of the set proved fun but unremarkable. He played the consummate lasso loverman on Last Night and Cowgirls, a stetson-tip to those romantic rodeo riders who will “love you like a mustang”. And the down-home struggles of tracks like Whiskey Glasses, Chasin’ You and his huge Post Malone collaboration, I Had Some Help — about poverty, alcohol, heartbreak — were drained of impact by their pop-country sound.
He was far more engaging when cutting through the talent-show populism to a more sincere country core. Going full hoedown on Everything I Love, or ascending to the tiny B-stage for a touching, open thank-you letter to his mother (Thought You Should Know). There’s heartfelt hardship and classic songcraft at the root of Wallen’s work; the diehard traditionalists will have to expand their horizons.
★★★☆☆
OVO Hydro Glasgow, September 5, morganwallen.com
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