Megan Moroney

Megan Moroney's sunny demeanor belies her cleverness as a songwriter, an aesthetic showcased on her 2022 breakthrough single "Tennessee Orange" and its accompanying album Lucky. On that 2023 debut, Moroney's embrace of classic country songwriting tropes -- she is at ease with a boot-scooting boogie as she is with plaintive storytelling -- intertwined with a pop savviness and a contemporary sensibility. The album was a Top Ten success on the country charts, a feat she bested a year later with her follow-up, Am I Okay?, which reached number nine on the Billboard 200.

Born in 1997, Georgia native Megan Moroney was introduced to some of the songwriting greats of classic country, Southern rock, and Americana by her family as she was growing up. She also took piano lessons and would often sing with her father. Later, during her freshman year at the University of Georgia, an opportunity to open for Chase Rice at the Georgia Theatre in Athens compelled her to write her first song, "Stay a Memory," which she performed at the show. At the end of the school year, she told her parents that she wanted to decamp to Nashville; they encouraged her to complete her degree in music business before making the move. During her time at the university, she interned for Sugarland's Kristian Bush, and they kept in touch after she graduated and relocated to Nashville in 2020.

Moroney released the self-penned single "Wonder" in 2021, and Bush helped arrange her first co-writing session in Nashville; it was with Ben Williams, who contributed heavily to Moroney's Sony debut, July 2022's Pistol Made of Roses EP.

Bush went on to produce the singer's later single "Tennessee Orange," an affectionate ballad written by Moroney, Williams, David Fanning, and Paul Jenkins, and released in September 2022, just in time for the college football season. While she'd racked up several million streams for songs like "Hair Salon" from her debut EP, "Tennessee Orange" did numbers in the tens of millions and cracked the Billboard Hot 100, where it eventually peaked at 38. Meanwhile, it rose to number ten on the Hot Country Songs chart, was nominated for two CMT Music Awards (Breakthrough Female Video and Digital-First Performance of the Year) and led Moroney to opening shows for the likes of Larry Fleet and Chase Matthew, among others. She followed it in early 2023 with "I'm Not Pretty" ahead of her first headlining tour and opening slots for Brooks & Dunn. Her debut album, Lucky, arrived on Columbia in May 2023. Produced by Kristian Bush, it debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200 and in the Top Ten on the country chart. "Can't Break Up Now," a collaboration with Old Dominion, appeared later that year and in early 2024 she began the album cycle for her followup, with its lead single, "No Caller ID." Working again with Bush, Moroney co-wrote all 12 songs on Am I Okay?, which including the buzzy send-off "Indifferent." Released in July 2024, the album performed even better than her debut, hitting number three on the country chart and making the Top Ten on the Billboard 200. ~ Marcy Donelson