Morgan Wallen Got Eliminated From “The Voice” The First Time He Did A Country Song: “They Wanted Me To Sing Pop”

He obviously didn’t need The Voice anyways.

Many Morgan Wallen fans probably already know this, but he actually first got a little notoriety from appearing on NBC’s TV singing competition show The Voice, which was in 2014. He made it the playoff round, but ultimately didn’t win, though he was able to make some connections in the music industry that way and it ultimately led to him moving to Nashville in 2015.

Obviously, the rest is history and Morgan is now a country music superstar, though he comes from humble beginnings, first learning how to sing and play music in church in the hills of the Appalachian mountains.

Morgan is originally from Sneedville, Tennessee, and during a recent episode of Deer Season 25 with Mark Drury in Iowa, Morgan opened up about his childhood, saying he asked for a violin when he was 5 and he learned how to play it classically, though he knows it’s because he loved the fiddle being in the Appalachian mountains:

“When I was 5, I asked for a violin for Christmas. Which technically, I was probably wanting a fiddle because I was at church and being in the Appalachian mountains, we listened to bluegrass and stuff a lot.

So I learned how to play that, but I learned how to classically play violin, not fiddle. And then I quit after two or three years just because I didn’t think it was cool no more. All I was doing was playing baseball, so I didn’t think it was cool at all at the time. I played piano, starting learning piano when I was 7, so I learned how to classically play piano.

Then I did that for two or three years too, then I just got real heavy into baseball, and I started doing travel team, and all that kind of stuff and it took up all my time. But I would still mess around with the piano, not the violin so much. Just kind of play chords, play by ear, all that kind of stuff. Kept somewhat in touch with music that way, but I would’ve ever write songs, really.”

He started writing in his late teenaged years, but when baseball started taking up all his time, that became the priority. He would still play some for his mom and friends, but it wasn’t until an injury that ended his college baseball career happened that he really turned to music as an escape.

His mom, Lesli, saw his potential, and signed Morgan up for The Voice without him even knowing anything about t. They drove to the audition in St. Louis, and Morgan went pretty far, though he explains that the producers wanted him to sing pop music, and he obviously wanted to sing country and was even a fan of some southern rock music.

Eventually, they let him pick a song, and he picked a country song… but got voted off the next week:

“Sometimes I would write poems and just random stuff, but didn’t start writing, probably, until I was 18, 19, 20. Whenever I got hurt in baseball, I didn’t get to go to college and play, so I started writing songs, trying to get my feelings out, I guess.

And just playing for my mom. I started off playing for my mom, I’d go to a buddy’s house for a bonfire, people would be like, man, you’re actually good. I knew I could sing, I just really enjoyed it… but there’s a lot of people that can sing, you know? But my mom actually signed me up for ‘The Voice,’ the TV show, and I went on there.

I never even heard of it, and I was like, I guess I’ll go if you drive me to St. Louis, actually, is where I tried out. Made it on there, like Top 20, but I wanted to sing country music and they wanted me to sing pop music. So I was just like, I guess these people are the smart people, guess I’ll try it. I sang some pop songs on there, and they finally let me pick a song, I picked a country song, then they kicked me off.”

The irony of him now getting chirped for singing pop and hip-hop infused country music… the universe is funny like that. But Morgan calls getting voted off “the best thing that ever happened,” adding that he met connections that way and it prompted his move to Music City and ultimately led to him becoming the biggest thing in music right now.

He added that he came from humble beginnings, and never could’ve imagined what his life would turn into:

“That was the best thing that ever happened, though. I just met some people through that and ended up moving to Nashville in 2015. So I’ve been there since 2015, it’s been good to me. Seriously, I never thought when I was ay my parent’s house writing those first songs… never.”

Morgan is a dad to a young son, Indigo, and he talked about wanting to instill those values into him, even though he knows he’ll clearly grow up much differently than he did. It’s a very interesting peak into Morgan the person, which we really don’t get to see too often in detail like this.

He gets a lot of flack for a lot of his public scandals, and rightfully so a lot of the time, and many people clearly don’t like his pop-influenced music, but it’s hard not to like him when you see and listen to him in the kind of setting:

@love.country.music #morganwallen #morganwallentiktok #fyp ♬ original sound – love.country.music

Morgan auditioned when was just 20-years-old, and if you’ve never watched his audition, it’s a fun blast from the past:

The full episode is available below.

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