The Morgan Update
Morgan Wade, our Floyd VA hometown star, performed last night at the CMT music awards with Alanis Morissette, along with Lainey Wilson, Ingrid Andress, Madeline Edwards. The performance was in celebration of CMT’s Next Women in Country Music Campaign and all the women singing with Morissette have been showcased as emerging female artists.
Morissette’s album, Jagged Little Pill, was my Joni Mitchell Blue of the 90s. Turns out that Morgan has a song about Morissette’s influence on her: “Scream on the stage / and let out your rage / till the lights go out / Fame is hollow / Jagged pill’s hard to swallow / while they pick you apart / Oh, one hand in my pocket / and the truth is shocking / when there’s nothing to lose / I know how to be brave / keep the demons away / all because of you / Oh, Alanis…
And you oughta know that Morgan was also nominated for Best Female Break-out Video.
Not only did the show celebrate women and diversity in general, it showcased great songwriting in a broad range of genres, including a Gary Clark Jr. rocking blues number in tribute to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and an all-star band performance of Lynrd Skynrd songs as a tribute to Southern Rock.
As a rock and singer/songwriter fan, I appreciate the fusion of country music with rock, pop and hip hop. Along with established country music stars like Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, The Black Crowes performed with Darius Rucker, and Wynonna Judd and Ashley McBryde sang Foreigners’ I Want to Know What Love is. Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Wayne Henderson of the Allman Brothers and Gwen Stefani were all in the house.
So now, Morgan, our own singer/songwriter and rocker, can add a CMT performance to her list of accomplishments, being in the Rolling Stone magazine, performing on CBS’s morning show, and more locally, performing on the Floydfest main stage and making a surprise homecoming appearance at the Floyd Country Store last year, which I wrote about for The Floyd Press last year HERE. You can watch the CMT performance on youtube HERE.
Or type in her name on my sidebar search engine. I’ve been covering her progress since 2015. Now we’re off to see Morgan perform on the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville this weekend.
