Morgan Wallen Reveals The Two Vocalists Who Have Had The Biggest Influence On His Own Singing

Two of the greatest voices of all time, from two different genres.

Morgan Wallen is a polarizing figure in the country music world. He’s obviously the most popular country music artist in the world with a hardcore fanbase, but there’s also a vocal portion of haters who oppose anything he does because of his prior controversies, or because they don’t believe his music should be considered “country” in the first place.

But Morgan has also been pretty open about his musical influences and interests, which stress far beyond country music. In fact, during a conversation with Theo Von on his podcast This Past Weekend a few months ago, Morgan admitted that he doesn’t listen to a lot of country music:

“I don’t listen to country music a whole lot. I think I’ve always kinda been that way.”

And he revealed that growing up in East Tennessee, he wasn’t allowed to listen to “secular” music:

“I grew up in a very rural Southern Baptist church, singing gospel and bluegrass. When I was 5 years old, I asked for a violin for Christmas, and I’d play piano growing up, but I wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music when I was a kid.”

In fact, in the early 2000s, the first CD he bought was from a rock group, around the same time that he started getting into rap:

“The first non-Christian album I bought was a Breaking Benjamin CD. My buddies were listening to that kind of stuff. Then around 2006, I was playing travel baseball, and we were in Atlanta.

I remember being in the car with my friend and his parents, and TI came on the radio. I’d never heard anything like it before – the way that he enunciated and used his words. It was so cool. I started listening to a lot of Atlanta and Memphis hip-hop after that.”

It wasn’t until he heard Eric Church that he started listening to country:

“I got into Eric Church, and I didn’t really ever get into country music until I listened to him. What struck me most was how I could just picture all his lyrics. I started digging deeper and listening to all of his catalog. I mean, I knew every bit of his first three records. I could sing them all.” 

So it shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone that his music include influences from many different genres, including country, rap and rock.

Last month, Morgan released a limited-edition I’m The Problem CD zine. The book featured exclusive interviews with the likes of Wallen himself and other collaborators, articles reflecting on the record penned by the “Whiskey Glasses” singer, exclusive lyric sheets of all 37 songs and, a even a letter from Morgan’s father.

In the book, Morgan opened up on his musical influences, and revealed the two artists who have had the biggest impact on him as an artist: The legendary Keith Whitley and the late, great Chris Cornell, who was the lead singer of rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave.

Morgan called the two “the pinnacle” when it comes to vocalists:

“I think Keith Whitley has one of the best voices ever. I mean, if we’re talking country music, I don’t know that anyone compares to his vocals. He’s also from Appalachia. Growing up, my great uncles had a quartet, and they would travel and sing at churches, singing Southern gospel. I think Whitley just sounds familiar to me in such a beautiful way.

In terms of vocalists who influenced me as far as vocals, Keith Whitley and then Chris Cornell. Those two guys are the pinnacle for me.”

It’s no surprise that Morgan would list Keith Whitley as one of his biggest influences. He’s often cited the legendary country singer as one of his favorite artists, and has paid tribute to him multiple times in his own music, including the song “Keith Whitley” on his One Thing At A Time album and with his controversial “Miami” remix on I’m The Problem.

And it’s hard to listen to Morgan’s music and not hear the influence of Chris Cornell, from his vocal style to his lyrics.

I’m sure there are fans of both artists who will be upset that Morgan is name-dropping them, and people who laugh at the idea of Morgan comparing himself to either of the two legends. But if you’re going to take influence from anyone in your music, those guys were two of the absolute best.The post Morgan Wallen Reveals The Two Vocalists Who Have Had The Biggest Influence On His Own Singing first appeared on Whiskey Riff.