I want to be as gracious and thankful as I can because it has been a long road.
Maren Morris
I love listening to the radio because there's something about that discovery, that platform, still being the main medium. And it is changing with streaming services, but I like to listen to what people are listening to and figure out why is this song so catchy.
This never happens, but I was writing with my friend Ryan Hurd and Eric Arjes, and we wrote this song called 'Last Turn Home.' The next day, my publisher emailed it to Tim McGraw's label. He listened to it, and I think within the week, he went into the studio and recorded it. And that never happens.
I love dry British humor. I love to sketch in my off time. I love tequila.
In Texas, it's legal for a kid to be in a bar with your parents.
As a touring musician over the last 15 years, before streaming and iPods, you had to listen to terrestrial radio wherever you were. That's always been my way of connecting to a location. Turn on the radio, search through the dial.
I'm a huge country fan and am always inspired by classic country.
Don't forget to celebrate. When I was first coming up, everything was so serious - we were always rushing to get to the next thing - that we didn't take the time to say, 'Man, look what we did just now.'
You need someone there that gets what you're going through.
Nashville has become sort of this go-to writing city for every genre.
If I got dropped tomorrow or every single I released from now on tanked, I'd be devastated, but I'd also still be doing this. I'd still be writing songs. I'd still be recording them. I was doing that for four years in Nashville. This is just on a larger stage.
I love playing with my dog and just sitting on the patio with people I don't get to see very often anymore. I'm a pretty simple gal.
I did choir, soccer, some theater. The only weird thing about my life was that I was playing honky-tonks on the weekends.
I have a Prius, but I'd love to have a white convertible like Richard Gere's in 'American Gigolo.'
A lot of new artists sign their deal and then go into a development stage for a year or two or sometimes never get out of it. For me, because I had been a working songwriter in town, I had a collection of songs that I was ready to make into an album. At the time, I didn't realize it was becoming an album, but it was.
There's Kelsea Ballerini, myself... Lauren Alaina, Raelynn, and there's been this influx of really amazing artists who happen to be women. I think I'm not really attached to the females in country conversation as much anymore, but I think, you know, we're here to stay, and we've always been here, and we've always been good.
I think about the people that I've seen change because they believed in their own hype. I just never want that to happen to me.
There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.
I internalize a lot of thoughts, and sometimes it seems like I'm not listening or totally zoned out, but I'm always on a loop of ideas and song titles. I'm definitely kind of a space cadet, but I'm very laid back.
The songwriting community in Nashville really is all about your talent. It's not about your image, and you have to be humble. You have to be kind. You have to have zero ego when you walk into that writing room.
I get a lot of my songwriting done while driving around Nashville - sometimes it comes to me that way.
I was 14, and I played this club that's no longer there because it was poorly managed: the Texas Tea House in Fort Worth.
When I look at most lineups, especially in country, women are definitely lacking in numbers.
If I had been thrown out into a radio tour when I was 18, or 17, and given a record deal, I don't think... it would have been a total nightmare.
Enjoy every moment because it is so good and just a testament to all the work you've put in.
I love love songs, but sometimes it's okay to just be young and talk about something other than getting married or falling in love. There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.
Right before I go out, we usually put on some Lauryn Hill or Fugees, and I'll do a shot of tequila just to calm my nerves.
I don't know if there's something in the water in Texas, but there's a lot of us really ballsy women that have something to say.
I just love when girls rock short hair, because they can't hide behind anything. I feel more empowered with short hair.
You can't be rolling into town with stars in your eyes. A lot of people get to Nashville and immediately start selling themselves: 'Let's go to lunch and talk about the business!' Then you realize everyone is talented here.
You either have to sing about being scorned by a lover or sing about thinking a boy is cute and wanting him to notice you. That's about as edgy as you can get.
It definitely is an ice breaker going into the awards already having one, and it was just so crazy when I heard I did win because I was in London at the time, and we were doing a festival out there, and my manager was like, 'You just won an ACM.' And I was like, 'How? It's so early!'
My lyrics are more country - what I love is the storytelling and the structure, how tight the rhymes can be. But pop melodies have always been intrinsically linked to my writing style.
Obviously, writing together is very intimate because it's sort of acting where you need to get to a really deep place to get the most emotional song.
I wanted to become a better songwriter, so it seemed like a no-brainer to move to Nashville, where some of the best writers in the world live.
I feel like when I get into most rooms, melodies come really easily to me, and they sound good in my head. I never really know until I hear the song back and it's finished if it actually is good.
With streaming services, the walls have come down a bit on genres. So I never really set out to make a country record or a pop record. I just wanted to make it mine.
I've written some really good songs that I love hungover because I wasn't overthinking it.
I didn't move to Nashville with any inkling or dreams of getting a record deal. I didn't have those stars in my eyes. I just wanted to take a break, relax, and figure out songwriting.
I always go back to old vinyl albums I loved, and that's sort of the aim I had with 'Hero' - just to make it look classic and feel like me, but also timeless in a way.
I love, love songs, but sometimes it's okay to just be young and talk about something other than getting married or falling in love.
A lot of new artists, especially girl artists, feel pressure to be so 'media perfect' and 'trained.' I'm intelligent, but I don't like hearing regurgitated answers in interviews that sound so rehearsed.
It's funny to think that at 22 years old, I was really burned out from being on the road for 10 years.
I'm a control freak, even though I can be scatterbrained off stage. The only way I can have fun is if I know where everything is.
Fine arts education in public schools is really abysmal. The same emphasis should be put on music, theater, dance - anything creative - that's put on math and science.
That's the whole point is just to bring people together in a really positive way and laugh together and cry together and just be connected through a simple thing of a few chords.
It's such a changing industry, and I realize that it's become more digital- and singles-driven, but I still love listening to a full record. It's the artist's story captured in 12 or 15 songs.
Being on the stage is the one place I don't get nervous. Before the show is another story, but once I'm up there, and the first chord hits, I go to this other place. It's like a dream land.
Definitely scatterbrained. I internalize a lot of thoughts, and sometimes it seems like I'm not listening or totally zoned out, but I'm always on a loop of ideas and song titles. I'm definitely kind of a space cadet, but I'm very laid back.
It's a pipe dream, but for me, I've always wanted a Tesla. I would never have to go to a gas station.
