William Michael Morgan made his return to Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio on Saturday, April 8. He was preceded on the stage by rising star Morgan Myles. She brought some funk and soul to the stage with rousing covers of Lorde’s “Royals,” Adele’s “Send My Love,” and Chris Stapleton’s ”Tennessee Whiskey.” Her voice shines on all of these diverse songs, making them uniquely sound like they were written for her. Her own best-known single “Whiskey Dreaming” also has hints of country and soul and her powerful voice could really carve a niche on the country charts. Hopefully we will hear more of Myles on country radio from her soon-to-be released new EP and have this new female voice rise to the top.
Morgan Myles at Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio.
Next came William Michael Morgan and his five-piece band to the stage. Dressed the part in a black cowboy hat, black button-up shirt, blue jeans and black boots, you know you are going to hear some traditional country music as soon as you see Mr. Morgan, and he really delivers on this promise. He kicked off his 20-song set with the first track on his debut album, “People Like Me.” This is a great way to start his concert because it is upbeat, is about the “working man,” and is instantly relatable to pretty much everyone in the crowd. A great follow-up is “Beer-Drinker,” which continues this theme of hard working-people enjoying the weekend with their favorite cold brew to unwind with friends.
An interesting highlight of the show is Morgan’s unexpected cover of Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” He sounded really great on this song, but the transformation in his voice was amazing. If one would close their eyes when hearing this performance, it would be hard to imagine that this is the same William Michael Morgan that had just played all these traditional country songs, to follow up with a pop tune, but it really worked. Moments like this always make a concert more memorable.
Morgan sang the title track from his first album, “Vinyl,” which was released in 2016. The pedal steel guitar brings the traditional country sound back on this tune, as Morgan compares his love for his woman to music on vinyl, as it is the “old-fashioned” type that he seeks. This mature sound makes William Michael Morgan seem older than his 23 years, but it is just the kind of traditional revival in music that country fans are craving right now.
William Michael Morgan at Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio.
The most heartfelt moment of the evening was Morgan’s performance of “I Know Who He Is.” This song is about a man who is seeing his father suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. This is a very scary and sad issue that definitely struck home for some fans in the audience.
The crowd really got into Morgan’s medley of classic country tunes by Garth Brooks (“Friends In Low Places”), Alan Jackson (“Chattahoochee”), George Strait (“Unwound” and “Check Yes or No”), Merle Haggard (“Working Man’s Blues”), Keith Whitley (“Don’t Close Your Eyes”) and Georgia Satellites (“Keep Your Hands to Yourself”). The audience thoroughly loved singing along to all of these classic hits.
Morgan finished his concert strong with performances of his current chart single “Missing,” which is about a man who just wants to get away from it all for a while, and his first number one single, “I Met a Girl.” Morgan, who hails from Vicksburg, Mississippi, oozed southern charm during these performances, while interacting with many lucky audience members in the first few rows shaking hands with the guys and kissing hands of the ladies. But he didn’t stop there as he followed up with Keith Fowler’s “I Pulled a Hank Last Night.” He exited the stage and returned a moment later for an encore song with one final country classic which the Thirsty Cowboy crowd just loved, Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”
“Vinyl” is a strong debut album from this rising young country artist. Country radio is ready to embrace a more traditional country sound than in the past few years. I think this record has some more tracks that are singles waiting to be released and I cannot wait to see what the future holds in store for William Michael Morgan’s budding music career.
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