#517 - John Morgan on His Uber Driver Leading Him to Meet & Sing with Jason Aldean + Why He Drove a Trailer to Bobby's House + How He Discovered The Secret to Songwriting + Touring Playing Bluegrass at 11 Years Old

Summary

The Bobby Bones Show - Episode #517 Summary

Title: John Morgan on His Uber Driver Leading Him to Meet & Sing with Jason Aldean + Why He Drove a Trailer to Bobby's House + How He Discovered The Secret to Songwriting + Touring Playing Bluegrass at 11 Years Old

Release Date: June 13, 2025

---

Introduction

In Episode #517 of The Bobby Bones Show, host Bobby Bones sits down with songwriter and artist John Morgan to delve into John's remarkable journey in the music industry. From humble beginnings mowing lawns to penning multiple number-one hits for big names like Jason Aldean, John shares insightful stories about his career, collaborations, and the unexpected twists that led him to success.

---

Meeting Jason Aldean: A Serendipitous Encounter
Timestamp: [00:00]

John Morgan recounts an unexpected twist in his career trajectory when an Uber driver, who had connections with Jason Aldean's bandmates, facilitated his introduction to the country superstar.

John Morgan ([00:00]): "This is an iHeart podcast. I sing the demo, he sends it off to guys he told me he'd been writing with forever. About two weeks later, I get a phone call, and he's like, hey, man, this is Jason Aldean. I'd love to meet in person..."

Initially skeptical, John describes his nervous excitement upon realizing the call was genuine.

John Morgan ([00:36]): "I was sprinting inside to find a witness. Needed somebody to make sure this was not a prank call."

Their meeting led to a fruitful collaboration, with Jason Aldean not only signing John but also involving his Uber driver, John Edwards, in the partnership.

---

John Morgan's Background: From Lawn Mowing to Music
Timestamp: [03:43]

Bobby Bones and John Morgan engage in a light-hearted conversation about the circumstances leading to John driving a trailer to Bobby's home, mistaking him for a yard maintenance worker.

Bobby Bones ([03:43]): "Big. You drove a trailer up to the house?"

John humorously explains his responsibilities as a landlord, juggling property management with his budding music career.

John Morgan ([04:16]): "I'm landlording, taking care of my due diligence, cutting the grass per monthly..."

Their discussion naturally transitions into sharing past jobs and how these experiences shaped their work ethic.

---

Early Influences and Musical Roots
Timestamp: [12:19]

John delves into his musical upbringing, highlighting the significant role his mother played in nurturing his singing and piano skills, and his father's vast knowledge of 70s music.

John Morgan ([12:19]): "My mom, she was the musical one. She was the one that taught me how to sing, play piano, hear harmonies..."

He also touches upon his early passion for bluegrass and how it organically evolved into a love for guitar and songwriting.

John Morgan ([13:07]): "Guitar was kind of my first love. And then, I learned how to sing a little bit. After high school, I started getting into the songwriting world..."

---

Transition from Bluegrass to Songwriting
Timestamp: [19:56]

Despite his strong foundation in bluegrass, John admits feeling burnt out from the rigorous touring schedule starting at age 11.

John Morgan ([22:21]): "I was really burnt, man. I was on the road in a sprinter van from 11 to 18..."

This exhaustion fueled his desire to transition into songwriting, prompting a move to Nashville where he could focus on crafting his own music.

---

Collaborations and Learning in Nashville
Timestamp: [34:33]

In Nashville, John emphasizes the importance of collaboration and learning from seasoned songwriters. He highlights how working with industry veterans like Mike Delaney and Ashley Gorley taught him the value of precision in songwriting.

John Morgan ([34:39]): "The biggest thing that I learned... is they didn't waste any lines. Every word has a purpose..."

John's ability to adapt and contribute effectively in songwriting sessions is attributed to his bluegrass background, where versatility is key.

John Morgan ([40:12]): "Bluegrass, you gotta play multiple instruments. You gotta be able to sing different harmony parts..."

---

Touring and Performing: Santa My Boots Fest
Timestamp: [57:17]

John shares his experiences touring with Jason Aldean, particularly highlighting his performance at Santa My Boots Fest.

John Morgan ([57:19]): "It was awesome. Probably one of the coolest setups that I'd seen at a festival..."

He reflects on the growth of his fanbase and the rewarding moments of seeing enthusiastic crowds.

---

Favorite Artists and Musical Influences
Timestamp: [58:28]

When asked about his top four favorite artists of all time, John lists a diverse group that has significantly influenced his music style.

John Morgan ([58:32]): "Milsaps on there for sure. Probably I would put church in there somewhere... Keith Whitley's in there. Def Leppard's last..."

He appreciates the blend of traditional country influences and the electric guitar tones from rock legends like Def Leppard, which have shaped his sonic landscape.

---

Challenges of Being a Solo Artist
Timestamp: [59:47]

John candidly discusses the unexpected demands of being a solo artist, particularly the immense time commitment required to push a radio single to number one.

John Morgan ([60:00]): "I didn't realize how much time it required... pushing a radio single..."

He acknowledges the difficulty in balancing a rigorous schedule with personal life, emphasizing the need for effective delegation to maintain quality work without burning out.

John Morgan ([60:12]): "You have to really get it down to a science to be able to delegate yourself in the best way..."

---

Conclusion

The conversation between Bobby Bones and John Morgan offers a comprehensive look into the life of a dedicated songwriter and artist. From John's early days in bluegrass to his significant breakthrough with Jason Aldean, listeners gain valuable insights into the perseverance and adaptability required in the music industry. John's humility and commitment to his craft serve as an inspiring example for aspiring musicians.

---

Notable Quotes

• John Morgan ([00:00]): "I was sprinting inside to find a witness. Needed somebody to make sure this was not a prank call."
• John Morgan ([12:19]): "My mom, she was the musical one. She was the one that taught me how to sing, play piano, hear harmonies..."
• John Morgan ([34:39]): "Every word has a purpose."
• John Morgan ([58:32]): "Milsaps on there for sure... Def Leppard's last."

---

Connect with John Morgan

Follow John on Instagram: @johnmorgan95

---

This summary captures the essence of Episode #517 of The Bobby Bones Show, providing an engaging and comprehensive overview for both fans and new listeners.

Transcript

[John Morgan]

This is an Iheart podcast. I sing the demo, he sends it off to guys he told me he'd been writing with forever. Right. So I'm, like, not thinking anything of it. About two weeks later, cut my grass, and I get a phone call, and he's like, hey, man, this is Jason Aldean. I'd love to meet in person and just, you know, hang, whatever. Meanwhile, I'm, like, sprinting inside to find, like, a witness. Right. Needed somebody to make sure this was not a prank call.

[Bobby Bones]

Episode 517 with John Morgan. And so here's the truth. I had some dead bushes in the yard. And so we had called this company to come and replace the bushes. And so that day, they were scheduled to arrive and have a trailer and, like, take these. And so they pulled up with their trailer, and I thought they were at the house. It was John Morgan with his trailer. Yeah. It was a huge truck and trailer and trailer. It was like an old school F150. I thought they were the. I thought he was the bush guys because he drew. He had yard stuff in his trailer. But he was. And he talks about this. He was coming from mowing a yard of a property that he rents. I thought it was the Busch guys that. It was so weird. Yeah. I think he takes the award now for the biggest truck driven over. Does a trailer count? It counts. Yeah. Because he had a big trailer with the truck. I would compare it to, like, a U haul trailer that you get and you attach, but it wasn't U Hauls. A little bigger than that. It was white. A lot of bands will use them as well, like, to drag their equipment. Yeah. But, yeah, I thought it was a bush guy for sure. John Morgan. I mean, I really like John. We've talked about this before. There's a certain type of artist that you just feel like they're all the same until you spend some time with them and learn why they're a bit different. And that's like that male artist between, like, 22 and 34 who sings dude songs. Yeah. They kind of all blend until you can spend some. I liked John Morgan a lot. I didn't expect. Not that I expected not to like him. I don't know. I just thought, okay, let's just see what's up here. Really nice guy, huh? He's awesome. Yeah. And he came from mowing a yard, so I was like, that's. He has sick hair. He didn't even leave his trailer behind. He actually showed up in his yard mowing clothes and changed in the bathroom of the studio. I was like, he's in there a while. Oh, he's changing. I was like, he must be like me and be like newly lactose intolerant. John Morgan, I'm going to read you some of the stuff just like the data. Multiple number ones that he's written, including 16 cuts by Jason Aldean, which include Aldean's Trouble With A Heartbreak, which includes Aldean and Carrie if I Didn't Love youe. He's written for Dustin Lynch, Thomas Rhett, John Pardi, Michael Ray, and George Burge. He's toured all out. By the way, John's going to be. And he's. He's himself now. He just had a number one song with Aldean. Aldean was on his song because Aldean signed him. But he's going to be on tour with Kane Brown, Old Dominion, Riley Green. His album Carolina Blue is out now. And I don't know, it's pretty cool. I think his story is pretty cool. Friends like, that was the name of that song with Jason Aldean. It was his first country number one as an artist. So rooting for him. Really like him. I mean, I guess I could read you all the songs he wrote, but I'm telling you, it's a page by itself. He's on the road. You can go over to his socials onmorgan95. Is that the year he was born? I think so. Or his football number. He wasn't a lineman. There's no way. I think a year he was born. Okay. On the road. Go check him out and we'll put some down in the notes as well. Really enjoyed it. Here he is. Episode 517. John Morgan. John, good to see you, man.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, you too, man. How are you?

[Bobby Bones]

Pretty good. First time we met? Yeah, I think so, right?

[John Morgan]

I think so.

[Bobby Bones]

Sometimes I. I'll be a total douche and I'm like, first time we met. People like, no, we met for six seconds backstage. And I'm like, my bad. I didn't remember. But I think the first time we.

[John Morgan]

Met, I think it is, man.

[Bobby Bones]

Big. You drove a trailer up to the house?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, sorry about that.

[Bobby Bones]

Don't be sorry. We always have trailers at the house. They were like, you see the trailer? I thought it was like the. Our yard guy.

[John Morgan]

I don't know.

[Bobby Bones]

I don't know anymore. I've. I left that behind. I mean, after my maintenance days on the golf course, I left that behind. Is that what you were doing?

[John Morgan]

I got my equipment. If you need me to hit it?

[Bobby Bones]

No, I'm good.

[John Morgan]

We.

[Bobby Bones]

We did it yesterday. I was gonna ask you, though. Our pool is so green. Yeah, I know nothing about pools. Do you know anything about pools?

[John Morgan]

I'm learning.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. Apparently there's some algae and they had to come shock the pool today. Yeah, dude, I don't know about the rich person stuff. I'm still, like, new to the rich person stuff.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And so the pool is, like, really green, though.

[John Morgan]

It is a little green. Algaecide, I think is what it's called. You put a little of that in there and. Yeah, shock the piss out of it.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, that's what they did. They said they shocked it. So I thi. Would you throw, like, a hair dryer in it? Like, that's what I thought. Like a plugged up hair dryer. Why are you mo. Like, what were you doing today?

[John Morgan]

Why? Well, so we used to live in East Nashville, and we ended up moving out to Jolton last year, year and a half ago. And.

[Bobby Bones]

Land purposes.

[John Morgan]

Yeah. Yeah. Just wanted a little bit more room. And so when we did that, we. We were thankfully able to keep our other house and Ren out. So I'm landlording, taking care of my due diligence, cutting the grass per. Per monthly. I won't say I do it every two weeks because it's not every two weeks, but whenever I'm home, I try to hit it.

[Bobby Bones]

Is that because you enjoy doing it?

[John Morgan]

No, it's just because I'm cheap.

[Bobby Bones]

Okay. One of the two.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, one of the two.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. And so you drove over and does. Do the people that are renting it, are they renting it now? Somebody running it?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Do they know that their landlord is a successful songwriter and now artist?

[John Morgan]

Yeah. Yeah. They're like, that's cool, Cool, cool. Can you come cut our grass? Our grass is up to our waist, if you don't mind.

[Bobby Bones]

That's funny. So do you have a riding mower or do you have a push mower?

[John Morgan]

A ride mower? Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

I work maintenance on a golf course for a long time.

[John Morgan]

Did you?

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. And like, the rich kids got to be the cart kids at the club. The poor kids. It was definitely a class system. The poor kids, we had to be they maintenance workers on the. We had weedy ditches mow greens in the morning when the sun came up. We didn't even get the riding mowers. It was all push mowers.

[John Morgan]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

It was the worst. So I thought to myself, as soon as I have money, I'm never freaking touching a Lawnmower again? Yeah, I'm out. And as soon as I got money, I never touched a lawnmower again.

[John Morgan]

Good for you.

[Bobby Bones]

I have a traumatic relationship with waking up early, which I still do. That part sucks.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

But then having to mow once, I woke up early, driving to the golf course, woke up at somebody's yard, wasn't drunk, fell asleep, really fell asleep. Luckily didn't crash into their house.

[John Morgan]

No alcohol involved.

[Bobby Bones]

None. I've never had. I've never had drink of alcohol, so it wasn't like I was drunk for any reason. Yeah, yeah, that was my bad memory. Yeah. What were your jobs before you, you got into this career or did you have jobs while you were in this career? Initially, yeah.

[John Morgan]

I mean, both. My first, first couple jobs I had growing up was cutting grass. I would have a couple yards on the side after I would get done. I worked at a tire shop during the day and then after I got off, I would go cut yards and had a handful enough to make good money after hours. So I did that. My dad had a property management business. I worked for him for five or six years.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, you're keeping the family business going right now?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, man. Yeah, it's just in my blood, I guess.

[Bobby Bones]

So what were you doing at the tire shop? What were your day to day duties there?

[John Morgan]

Well, my freshman year of high school, I started pumping gas. It was a full service station that my uncle's on, so they would let me come down and pump gas and make tips doing that. So I did that for pretty much all through high school. That was kind of the job that was always there if you wanted it. So I kept that one. And then when I moved up to the tire shop, you know, I did maintenance, stub brakes, rotors, front end alignments, oil change, whatever you need.

[Bobby Bones]

I did. I didn't manage it, but I basically did. But I worked at a marina. That's where I learned how to fix boats, which I never liked it while doing it, but I had so many skills after I was done, like accidentally because you just had to figure a bunch of crap out and act like you knew what you were doing at times when you really had no idea. And it was just figure. Yeah, I was just kind of figuring stuff out. But I remember I would pump gas and these people would come in, they'd bring like a party barge or at times it was like Ouachta in Arkansas. So it wasn't like there were yachts or anything, but there'd be these massive yacht type boats or houseboats. Yeah, And I would pump, and I would be so pissed, and they wouldn't tip me. And I didn't feel like I needed to be tipped for every boat that came in.

[John Morgan]

Right, right.

[Bobby Bones]

But if it was a houseboat or a big party barge that multiple tanks and they didn't tip me, I resented them for that.

[John Morgan]

As you should.

[Bobby Bones]

I. When you were working as a, you know, 9th or 10th grader or whatever, you were working, pumping gas, do you expect to be tipped?

[John Morgan]

It depends. You know, if we're busy and I'm hustling, you know, and I'm. There's three or four cars that pull up at the same time. Like, you're jumping back in between. Right. You're running inside, you know, do their card come back, get the receipt? I mean. Yeah, I was. I would be kind of bummed if. If we were busy and I wasn't getting any kind of tip, you know, even a couple dollars, you know, that's good enough, right? At least.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah.

[John Morgan]

Something.

[Bobby Bones]

Because a couple dollars adds up.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

When I worked at Hobby Lobby. Dude. A couple bucks, like, eight times a day.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Set me up for food for, like, the whole week.

[John Morgan]

Right. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. Those jobs where you have to do service are so important, at least to me. They've been so important for, like, the rest of my life. And then how to treat people, because I think it's really hard to understand what service goes through until you've done service yourself.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, dude.

[Bobby Bones]

And when you're. That just reminds me that you're talking about that job because you're dealing with people that are going about their days. They want it fast or they're in a bad mood or they're in a good mood, and you. You're just kind of dealing with it and doing it. But then once you get on the other side of that, you tend to treat people a lot better.

[John Morgan]

Yeah. I feel like you. It's just. You get it, right? You get. You get what their job is. So I feel like, you know, the. It's like anything else. If you've done it, you. You know, the struggles in that particular lane, you know? So. Yeah, it's. I don't know, man. It's just all I know. Be honest with you. This is kind of how I was brought up. And, you know, if you. If you wanted to. If you want it done right, you do it yourself. Right. That's my old man's motto.

[Bobby Bones]

So what's he doing now? Is he still alive?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, man. He's playing golf every day. Really? Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Is he Retired.

[John Morgan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

That's pretty cool.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, I'm. I'm happy for him, man. He's. He's kind of recent, you know, last couple years, he's just been kind of weaning himself off. He was able to sell the business and kind of get away from that, so it's been cool.

[Bobby Bones]

The twist is he sold it to you, and that's what you're doing also. That's why you came from today.

[John Morgan]

Property management business. Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Was there music in your family as far as the creation, like writing or playing?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, I kind of fell into it early. Like, my. So my mom, she's kind of the musical one. She. She was the one that taught me how to sing, play piano, hear harmonies, like, stuff like that. Should. A great ear for that. And my dad could not sing, but he could tell you, you know, every band in the 70s, every album when it was released, like, he was that guy. So I was pretty fortunate to have kind of both ends of that and. And, you know, in my upbringing, you know, and then you throw bluegrass in the mix, which is, you know, pretty predominant where I'm from. It's just, you know, something that you. It's more of a pastime than anything. It's not necessarily something people get into as a career, but you just, you know, bluegrass is just something you can sit around on the front porch and play, you know, with whoever, and so kind of fell into that. But that's what made me fall in love with guitar. Guitar was kind of my first love. And then, you know, learned how to sing a little bit. And then, you know, after high school, I started, you know, getting into the songwriting world. I had no idea it was a. A thing until, you know, 17 or 18. I started studying up, seeing different. Or seeing the same names on different songs that I like from different artists. Right. And you kind of keep up with that more, and that whole world just opened up to me, and I fell in love with, you know, creating an idea and writing songs. And so that's ultimately what. What brought me here. That's what I wanted to do.

[Bobby Bones]

When you talk about your mom teaching you those things you had mentioned, was she trained in any way? Did she perform ever in her life, or was she just drawn to it and learned it out of a hobby?

[John Morgan]

More. More so that. I mean, she, you know, she grew up singing and playing in church, you know, and I think she took lessons, but she wasn't. She wasn't somebody who could sit down and sight read. A lot of it was by Ear. So, yeah, it was. It was mainly just for fun. She just enjoyed doing it all. Most of her family, like, on her side, it was just a musical family. They would just. Like I said, they would get together and have singings just for fun. Right. So, yeah, it was just kind of. Kind of more of a hobby, I guess.

[Bobby Bones]

Were you a ball player?

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

So I'm assuming if you're a good ball player, that music really can't dominate until you're not playing ball anymore.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, well, I said I was a ball player, not a good ball player.

[Bobby Bones]

Well, everybody that ends up coming here ends up being a good ball player.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because usually, a lot of times, honestly, it's that same kind of work ethic and drive that makes them a good ball player. It's when they commit to music. Because some people go, man, it's crazy how good ball players are always artists. And I'm like, well, actually the guys, and there have been some girls, too, that are great athletes and then turn to music. What they do is they actually channel that. That work ethic and energy into music. It's not just that if you're a good ball player, you can do music, but it's like the traits and the discipline that you learn coming up through playing sports, for the most part, so. But it's also rare that somebody's a good ballplayer and really into music at the exact same time.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because there's so much energy that has to go into one or the other.

[John Morgan]

I agree. I don't know how anybody could do that professionally. I mean, for me, like, I. Baseball was kind of my first love. And then when I got into high school, our baseball program shut down, so I kind of transitioned into basketball. Basketball became, like my thing.

[Bobby Bones]

What happened with the baseball program? Small school.

[John Morgan]

Yeah. Tiny. Yeah. A little private Christian school. I graduated with six people, so.

[Bobby Bones]

Oh, that's real small.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. We didn't have a baseball field, but I just was 40. It's like a public school. We had to play in another team. Public baseball field. Yeah. Yeah.

[John Morgan]

Small for public school.

[Bobby Bones]

Super rural town.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. So could you not go play ball at another school?

[John Morgan]

I probably could have. I don't know, man. It just. I didn't really think about it too much. You know, I was. You know, I. I knew I loved baseball, but I had a really. A really good coach come through for our basketball program kind of around that time, and he really. He really changed the game for me with basketball. He was big on the Princeton offense, which is like, it's Very slow, methodical ball. Yeah, it's a half court offense. A lot of like everything has an out. You always have an option, right? You're always moving. So it was just fun for me. I was, you know, I was more of a guard position at that time, so I was moving a lot, touching the ball a lot, so I just liked it. You know, baseball is obviously a little slower moving game, which I love now, but softball is definitely what I would choose if I had to pick one now. But by pickleball at all. Yeah, I love pickleball, you say? Yeah, yeah, I was, I'm a little rusty. We were out with the Aldean boys. They, they set up something. Brian o' Connell would have a court set up every show we were playing. So that was kind of our workout during that tour.

[Bobby Bones]

But by the way, I wasn't insulting the Princeton offense. I meant like you said, a half court offense. When I say slow, I mean, I don't mean everybody needs to be slow. I mean, I'm very familiar with the Princeton offense.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Everything is very deliberate.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

The offense sets and goes. So all everybody watching or listening to this, it's going to message me and say, the Princeton offense is not slow. I hear you. Anyway, continue on. So did you, were you drawn to basketball? Were you pretty good?

[John Morgan]

I was, I was all right at high school. You know, I, I led my, my school in the most technicals. Proud of that. I definitely had a hot head back in the day just for sports though. It was just like, you know, I guess is what you're passionate about. It was like sports and music I would get really frustrated with sometimes, but sports, I, my adrenaline would encourage me to verbalize that, you know, and so it was a lot of fun. But yeah, I think had I gotten control of that early on, I might have been, I might have been able to do something with it. But I knew I went to small Christian school down in, in Pensacola too, after I graduated and I coached my, my high school for a couple years and then I was like, I want to try college. Went to college. Wait, what? Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

You coach for a couple years?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, I did.

[Bobby Bones]

And then went to college. You took two gap years, but those were coaching gap years?

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you think you want to be a coach?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, I always love that. Like I said, the coach that kind of came in at that, that time for me was just a really, just a cool guy. I mean, we're still buddies and you know, he was a younger guy and he just, it was just, it Was just fun to watch. He was fun to work with. He was fun to like, you know, he's fun to pick his brain because he was so smart about, you know, the game. And he was a player himself. He won like three out of four state championships, his high school career at a big school down East Carolina. So, you know, it was just fun. It was really, really cool. And I, I appreciated that side of it and wanted to. Wanted to try it out. I coached the middle school girls team my first year, which was wild.

[Bobby Bones]

Why?

[John Morgan]

Just trying to get, you know, middle school girls to listen to a 21 year old, you know, decent looking guy. It was just. It was just funny. But they, they were great, man. They. We had a great time. And how'd you do? Not good, not good, but we had a lot of fun. And the next year I upgraded to the JV boys. And the year after that I was assisting the varsity then too. And then the year after, they actually coached three seasons total. And the year, my final year, I coached the varsity boys and it was so much fun, man. It was just like, you just put everything into it, right? And we didn't have a great record, but I had a young team, man, if I would have had those guys a couple more years, we would have. We would have been pretty good.

[Bobby Bones]

But why do you go to college then?

[John Morgan]

I just, I was kind of lost, man. I was just kind of like coaching was really fun to me, but I just. It was that hometown thing where I've been and I'd been in silver my whole life and I was just like, man, I feel like I'm going to get stuck here if I stay now, you know? And so I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Music at that time. I had been burnt on the road because I've been on the road since I was 11, you know, going to school, playing ball. All that stuff was based around me touring and doing the bluegrass circuit. We were gone every weekend. We probably played 150 shows a year.

[Bobby Bones]

What were you playing? Were you playing guitar?

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Could you play fast? Like bluegrass style fast?

[John Morgan]

Used to be able to.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I mean, I guess you had to kind of get in to fit in, right?

[John Morgan]

So.

[Bobby Bones]

And I would assume just in my experience, not with bluegrass, but with anything, being around great people, you kind of have to at least try to be great and get a lot better or you don't get to hang out with the great people anymore.

[John Morgan]

Exactly.

[Bobby Bones]

Is that what it was for you at a young age?

[John Morgan]

Yeah. Yeah, I, I knew because it's like you said, people don't really care how you sing in bluegrass, but you better be able to play, you know? And so I really, really dove into that and just being a lead guitar player, and I'm thankful for that because it allows me to at least hang now, you know, with. With my guys and what we do.

[Bobby Bones]

So I was wrong then. If you're playing at 11, you were good at ball and music, because most of the time, it's not. It's one or the other with a lot of folks. But if you're starting even before you really get serious about ball, which it sounds like you did. If you're starting at 11.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Which were you more passionate about?

[John Morgan]

Always music, man. You know, even playing bluegrass. Like, I was playing traditional bluegrass at that time, too, in the beginning. And you're playing the same songs that every other band's playing a different way, right? You just. It's traditional, standard bluegrass tunes, and so it was a lot of fun, but I just got burnt, man. I was just like, I want to write my own stuff. I want to do my own thing. And it took me a minute to figure out that's what I wanted to do, but when I did, that's when I was like, all right, I got to move to Nashville now, or I'm going to get stuck here.

[Bobby Bones]

Were you around any other folks that had been to Nashville, and maybe it didn't work out or it wasn't for them, and they came back and could tell you that you needed to be in Nashville?

[John Morgan]

Not anybody who had been and came back, but I had. So my drummer, he's from same town as me, and he moved to Nashville about a year before I did. He was like, man, same thing. He's like, I want to get a pub deal. I'm going. So he was kind of the. He was a heavy encourager of, like, every weekend, he would call me, bro, you got to come down here and write. You gonna move down here? When are you moving? Like, he was that guy. And so I had. I had him. And then I had another buddy from Clayton, Georgia, right across the line from me, who I grew up with, Jeb Gibson, who he. He got a deal at Seagill as a writer, and before he even moved to town, he got. He got signed. And so, you know, seeing that happen, I was like, man, that's cool. At least I know two people. I had, like, three friends when I moved here that I was really close, too, and they were all in the music industry, so that was helpful to Kind of get established early on just through their friend group and, like, just trying to hang and meet people. It was like, that helped me a lot, you know, Sped the process up, I feel, like, a little bit. But, yeah, man, it was a lot of fun. I knew that, you know, music was always what I was passionate about, no matter what else I was doing. Like, I knew that was it. There was a time period where I didn't touch my guitar for, like, a year and a half, and that was when I was coaching and doing stuff like that.

[Bobby Bones]

Purposefully or just to have time for it. Because you were consumed with ball?

[John Morgan]

With my middle school girls basketball, I just said ball.

[Bobby Bones]

All I said was ball.

[John Morgan]

Career.

[Bobby Bones]

Probably, like, were you burnt by it? So you're like, I'm gonna leave it and hopefully the passion comes back, or I'm gonna leave it because I just don't want to touch it. Or were you just. No time.

[John Morgan]

Probably a. I was. I was really burnt, man. Like, you know, you're on a sprinter van for. I mean, literally, I was from. From 11 to really 18. I was on the road in a sprinter van, sleeping in the floor or whatever. You know, it's just like. I think it just caught up to me and. And that's kind of where I was at at that point.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you have any money saved up? If you're playing shows at 11, do you have some money saved up?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, dude. I bought my first two. My first two vehicles with bluegrass money.

[Bobby Bones]

Because it's not like there's a lot to spend it on when you're 11. No, there's no car insurance.

[John Morgan]

Well, there are things to spend it on, but you don't. Like, you don't need anything, right? I didn't. I was. I was like, cool. This is nice to see money in the bank, you know? Yeah, I liked that. And I've always been a tight wad, too, so.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, as you mentioned earlier with mowing the yard.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

I guess at 11, there's nothing you Ha. You must spend your money on. Yeah. Would have been a better way for me to say that, because, yeah, I'd have bought baseball cards like crazy, but I didn't need baseball cards. But at 11, you don't have to pay insurance, right?

[John Morgan]

Yeah. You don't have any of the bills that take your, you know, the core monthly income out. You just stocking it up.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you know that you didn't want to do bluegrass while you were doing bluegrass or while you were doing it? Did you love and think it was always bluegrass until you got burnt out.

[John Morgan]

I thought bluegrass was my only option for. For a while I thought, you know, this is all I've been good at. This is all I probably can do. But, you know, I was always listening. I never listened to bluegrass in my downtime like it was. I think I heard it so much on the road that I was just like, I need to change a scene when I'm not. And when we're traveling or whatever. I got my headphones in. I'm listening to old school, 90s country, 80s hair metal, you know, like I. All kinds of stuff. 70s, my dad, like I said, he really influenced me in that era of music. So, yeah, I don't know. I was always listening to different stuff and enjoyed that. Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor.

[C]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[D]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[C]

You don't need a trade in. When you switch to T mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[D]

There's always a trade in.

[John Morgan]

Not right now.

[C]

@ T Mobile.

[D]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[C]

That's okay.

[D]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[C]

I'm good. Seriously.

[D]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[C]

Really, I'm fine.

[D]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[E]

It's our first best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us. No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up.

[F]

To 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line, 100 plus a month on experience beyond Finance Agreement. $999.99 and qualifying ported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge. Pay off via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits end and balance due. If you pay off earlier. Cancel ctobile.com.

[John Morgan]

And we're back on the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

Go back to being 18, right? When you graduate high school, who were your four favorite artists then?

[John Morgan]

18. John Mayer was a huge one. I got into the the mayor world and he's kind of the guy that he and Keith Urban probably two. That really got me into the electric guitar world because I was always acoustic electric guitar Was like it scared me, right. I was like, I. I don't know. I don't know what all this is. And so they're the two guys who would just. Their clean tones like introduced me to, you know, playing a telly and getting a good clean tone out of a Telecaster and then strat tones and then just started adding pedals and like figuring them out. And I was a bedroom guy too. You know, I would sit in my bedroom and play the records all night. That's. That's just how I practiced. I just love doing that. And so I would say those two guys at 18, Ronnie Mils been one of my favorites forever.

[Bobby Bones]

He's that cuz your dad, your mom.

[John Morgan]

Maybe your mom more so my mom. Yeah. Yeah. I just. I've always loved him and, and his style and what he did. But yeah, I would say those three guys. And then. Then at that time, big Three Doors down fan. So I kind of had a little mixture of. Of those.

[Bobby Bones]

But yeah, who wasn't Three Doors down does not get the credit for having. They have so many monster just data hits.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Meaning number ones. Even songs that still stream. But because they fit in that lane and they were so ubiquitous because they could be on rock radio, they could be they massive pop radio. They could be on alternative.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

That they really didn't have a specific area that championed them because they were everywhere.

[John Morgan]

Right.

[Bobby Bones]

Where if they just would have been a rock band, they'd have been like, man, talk about a great southern rock. They'd have been held up high as a standard. But because they were so big, I feel like they don't get the credit they deserve.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because they're just some southern boys that easily could have been a country band too.

[John Morgan]

Oh yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Like, and. And I got a chance to know Brad. And Brad's came. Has come out and played with. With, you know, my. My comedy group before and he's. We did Kryptonite and dude, I'm telling you, it was freaking awesome. Like as soon as the drums come in, dude, it's like chills.

[John Morgan]

You feel like you can play that drum solo. Anybody? Because you. It's just so iconic. Right. You're like, oh, I could do that. You know, and then you watch it, like watch a video of it and then you watch Brad do it. I'm like, that's what blew my mind. He's back there singing and playing. I'm like, I'm out.

[Bobby Bones]

And to see also his range, like as a singer. There are a couple artists that I've Seen. And I'm curious to know, like, your thought on this as well. A couple artists that I've been around and I watched them perform and I didn't realize that they either sang so high or how they sang was so hard. Brad's one of them. Because you're talking about songs where he has to go, I don't even know what key singing in.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Even Kryptonite, where it's like, yeah, screaming key.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Like he has to scream on. Yeah, Tim McGraw. Same way, like he sings so high and you just sing a songs on the radio, you're like, you know, cool. When he sings at a show or like in my studio or something, you're like, oh, I could never really. He's. And he hasn't changed keys at all.

[John Morgan]

See, that's cool. That's cool. I, I, I've never seen Tim live, so I, I, I didn't know that. But I can see him being. That's how, truthfully, that's how Al Dean was. I just know, you know, I got to see his show so many times being on the road with him. He asked me to come out and do the Truth with him on that. I think it was his first, the first tour I was on and I was like, oh, yeah, in the bag. That's one of my favorite songs. Whatever, dude. I went to go practice it and I'm like, I said, I told Jason. I was like, dude, please don't ever make me sing this bridge because I cannot hit it. There's no way it's gonna, I'm not getting there. You have to sing the bridge every night. So we would be up there. There was a couple times where, you know, he would just, he's, he's not a rehearsing guy, right? He's like, yeah, come on, we're good, you know. So he pulls me up there and we're in the middle of it, we get to the bridge and he looks over at me, he's like, you got it, you got it. I'm like, dude, don't do this to me, please. 30,000 people waiting on the bridge to come. But yeah, he's very deceptively high singer. Just like that.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I, again, I'm not a singer. I sing for comedy. So I have a duo and, you know, we do pretty good, but I can sing just well enough that it doesn't distract from the joke. So I'm not a vocalist in any way, but I can sing enough. And I did meet in the middle with Diamond Rio. You talk about A high freaking song that you're just not prepared.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

No chance.

[John Morgan]

And there are. Key change. That one, too. Yeah, of course.

[Bobby Bones]

Complete. Another one's Tracy Lawrence. Paint Me at Birmingham. There's a complete key change. I can't even listen. I'm not a vocalist. But there's a complete key change, and.

[John Morgan]

That'S a cold, cold cut right into it. Yeah, that's true. I forgot about that.

[Bobby Bones]

It feels almost like the national anthem, where you got to start solo that it gets high and.

[John Morgan]

Classic mistake.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah. Where do you.

[John Morgan]

What.

[Bobby Bones]

What. What do you sing usually? Like, what key? I'm a big G guy. Usually I can just go put it in G and I can hang.

[John Morgan]

Yeah. G used to be my key to.

[Bobby Bones]

Then you got a lot better.

[John Morgan]

No, I don't know about. I think it got worse. B is. For whatever reason, open B is. Is a good key for me, is a good one. I play in drop D a lot. Those are probably my Go to.

[Bobby Bones]

You move to town and you have a bit. I'd say it's a little version of Canary in the coal mine. You had buddies that came and they didn't die, and they're like, dude, you got to come. Canary lived. Come to come to the coal mine.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And so you're here. You have a little support system. At least people. You know, how long until, like, things. I wonder. They start to happen. But you start to kind of get your bearings a little bit and go, oh, okay, I think I can do this. Because there's. There's very much an intimidation era.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because you're. You're good where you're from.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

But once you get here, I'm not speaking about you specifically, but generally, everybody. Yeah. Once you get here, you're like, oh, I was a good ball player at my high school, but now I'm here with Yadi or Molina, and it's a whole different ball game.

[John Morgan]

Oh, yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

How long until you finally felt comfortable and intimidation turned into kind of motivation?

[John Morgan]

Great, Great question, man. I. I definitely. I definitely had a. That era early on where I was, like, I moved here with the expectation of, I know what I want to do. That was. That was my. That was my thing. I'm. I'm glad I didn't move her earlier because I probably would have bounced around, tried too many different things, probably taken too many other jobs, like, not had enough money saved up to be able to focus on music when I first moved here. But, yeah, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

[Bobby Bones]

What was that, though?

[John Morgan]

You say, well, I Just wanted to write, man. That was my thing. I wanted to be a songwriter and. And I knew I fell in love with that world. And I was like, man, this, this is, like, what I wanted to do. I knew, you know, being an artist was always in the back of my mind, but like I said, you mentioned it earlier, it was like I felt like bluegrass was the only option for that. Right. I didn't know. Truthfully, I didn't know that I had a lead voice until I moved to town and I started doing demo work. Because I got into production early on. When I first moved here, I knew that would get me into better writing rooms. So I'm like, I can do a demo. I know how to do it enough. Right. So I started, you know, investing into equipment and, like, getting a little set up in my room. And, you know, that eventually turned into me, you know, having to sing demos and, like, people being like, hey, will you throw a vocal on this?

[Bobby Bones]

Or out of necessity, by the way.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Not that you're just dying to sing, but out of necessity, you kind of found a voice.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, I was, I was always a harmony singer. I mean, I sang lead on a few songs here and there, but I was predominantly a harmony guy. And so when I started doing that, I'm also a perfectionist when it comes to music. Like, I, I just, I'm super anal about certain things.

[Bobby Bones]

Is that the bluegrass background? Because it's, that is so. Bluegrass is so specific and also at the same time, jazz, right?

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Like, you can move around a bit, but if you don't move around the exact right spot, it can be disastrous. It can be beautiful. Yeah, but it can be disastrous. And I always find the bluegrass players are. What are like, you are, like. They're super anal about specific things when it comes to production.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Do you think that's where that comes from?

[John Morgan]

It could be, man. I, I, I, I think you're right. It's that Princeton Offense mindset, right? Where you're like, you, you. I just like, I, I like, for one, if I'm doing a vocal, I want it to be super clean. You know, I'm, I'm very. That's one of my pet peeves is, like, making sure I edit all my vocals, you know, clean them up, get them. Get them sounding right. But yeah, I don't know, man. I think production is what got me into better rooms as a writer, and I knew that if I could get in rooms with hit songwriters, I could figure it out.

[Bobby Bones]

I didn't feel like you could learn from them. Or. Yeah, you could just see, See what They're like, what the secret is behind the closed doors.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And then you could do that.

[John Morgan]

Because there's got to be a secret, right? You're like, how are these guys writing multiple, multiple hits for decades?

[Bobby Bones]

You know, because Ashley Gorley have 700 hits. Like, what's he doing? Over and over again.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, what is he doing?

[Bobby Bones]

Because there's something.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, there has to be.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, right.

[John Morgan]

There has to be.

[Bobby Bones]

What'd you learn? What was the secret?

[John Morgan]

You know what, man? I, I, I learned that these guys are just so articulate. They, I think the biggest thing that I learned from, especially early on, right. Early on, from guys like Mike Delaney, Brett Beavers, you know, Casey Beathard. Those were some of the guys that I got put into rooms with when I first got signed. So I was extremely nervous. New guy. But sitting in the room with them, the one thing I learned about all of them is they didn't waste any lines. There's no lines wasted. There's no fat in any of the lines. You're not saying words just to put them there and fill a space. Like, every word has a purpose, Right? Every line is purposeful. It's getting you to the next one or it's getting into the hook of the song. Like, those were the kind of things that I needed because I, you know, I, I, I realized, too, it made me realize my ideas that I was writing back home in North Carolina, they weren't bad ideas. I just didn't know how to get them there. You know, I was, I was talking about a bunch of random crap in the verses, and it made no sense when I got to the course, you know, that was something that I learned from those guys is really tying that in. Casey is the, the king of, like, riding all the way around and somehow ending back up with a hook, you know, in the best way. So that was probably the main thing I've taken from those guys is just cut the fat. Like, make sure every line is purposeful. They're also not guys who finish at 3pm that was the kicker for Ashley. I'm like, dude, how in the world are you so quick? You know, that was the, that was the thing when I wrote with him for the first time. Like, he just, he, you just roll. You roll with it. You, you figure it out. And he moves a lot faster than my brain does. So that was cool to watch. But, yeah, there's so many different things, man. I try to always be a sponge when I'm in those Rooms.

[Bobby Bones]

I spent some time because I'd written a bunch of comedy. I'd written a bunch of jokes, bunch of comedy songs. But I called a friend of mine who's a songwriter, and I said, hey, I have an idea. I'd seen this thing on one of the new shows, like, in Japan, they had a hologram that was in, like, seven places at once, but it was an opening act for a bunch of real artists, and they would write songs for the hologram. It was a version of what way back in the day. What was Damon Albert? Gorillas. The gorillas. The cartoon. The gorillas.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And I called my friend, I said, hey, I think there's something here for us in this world. I said, let's try it. And he was like, cool. And so, because I had this idea, it was me, and it was Ross Copperman, it was Nicole Galleon, and they are very accomplished songwriters. Lots of hits. So. So what was. Chasing that idea, we had built this group called Neon People, and we were writing all these songs. Now, what I. What I learned from being with them, because they do that every day at a high level, reinforced, I guess. What I learned about other things, too, was reps. The importance of fricking reps. Yeah. Because I'd be in. And by the way, they are extremely elevated when it comes to. To songwriting, but wordplay. And I would go, like, how did you figure that out? And honestly, it would be like, dude, we've done this 10,000 times. Like, the first 2200. It was terrible. And it was. Even the greats in that world will credit to just doing it over and over again with really good people. And, yeah, it wasn't that good to begin with, but now it's just the reps, the reps, the reps. And you naturally get a lot better the more you do it and the better people you do it with. And that's also what I'm hearing when you talk about these guys, because those are legends. And I've written with Jim Beavers a bunch.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Who's the funniest? And that's why him and I wrote together, because he was so funny. But it was like, even in songwriting, which is a really cerebral thing, it's not like you just go, I'm a great songwriter. This is the second song I've ever written.

[John Morgan]

Gold.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, it's not that.

[John Morgan]

No, it's not. That's a great point, man. It's. It's just like anything else. The more you do it, the more you're like, okay, that didn't work last time. Let's try something else, you know, And I think the other big factor, especially in Nashville, is like, who are you collaborating with? You know, because you get two really great lyricists in a room, it could go either way. It could go really well, or it could. You could get. You could hit a wall in the middle of the. Right. You know, because that. That was something that I. I don't know if I necessarily learned it, but, like, took on that role of, like, I'm going to be the chameleon in every room if. If. If I'm in the room with, you know, a Brett Beavers or, you know, most of these guys are. They. They. They're great melodically, lyrically. Like, they. Like you said, they've done it so much that they're good at all ends, but they prefer some. Some of these guys prefer to. To. To do one thing. And so I just try to fill that hole. Whatever. Whatever room I'm in, if. If we need a track going, I'll hop on. I'll. I'll get a vibe going on to. To keep the ball rolling. And if. If we're getting stumped on an idea, I'll throw out some ideas, you know, whatever it is. I try to be a chameleon in the room and. And do that.

[Bobby Bones]

Did you purposefully. And I'll call that a utility player. Did you purposefully have more utility because you got here and wanted to be valuable in whatever room, or did you have those skills because of all the time you had spent doing it growing up?

[John Morgan]

I'd like to thank both. You know, again, bluegrass, you gotta play multiple instruments. You know, you gotta be able to sing different harmony parts. You gotta be able to, you know, kind of adapt in the same way. I think that's what allowed me to do it was just to have the ability of doing it was that. But, yeah, the driving force was just I wanted to be in better rooms and I wanted to be a songwriter. And thankfully, you know, I was 23, 24 when I officially moved here. And I moved at, like, the weirdest time ever in 2020. So a lot of my first big rights were over Zoom. And that was just an adjustment in all and of itself because I'm very much a in person kind of guy. And so I had to. I had to really become a good lyricist because you can't sit there and play the whole time when you're on Zoom. You know, you're just pissing everybody off with the lag and all the different things. So I Had to learn how to sit there, mute myself, play in the room, try to come up with a line. Hey, guys, what about this? You know, it made me have to be a better lyricist, so I'm. I'm actually thankful for that. That first, you know, couple months and almost a year of. Of writing on Zoom with some of these hit songwriters was kind of watching them do the same thing, too, on the other end and. And how their brain works and processing, you know, the storyline and the idea. It was. It was a lot of fun eventually. At first, it was extremely intimidating, but, you know, I. I learned a lot from that year.

[Bobby Bones]

Any awkwardness with co writing because you got to say stuff now.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And it may not be warmly accepted and not negatively.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

But most things don't go into the song. Yeah, that's awkward.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, it is. It can be. At first, I've definitely said some things that I wish I didn't say in front of a hit songwriter.

[Bobby Bones]

Early on, I'm sure.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because later you learn if you say something that you shouldn't have said, maybe it turns into something else and you have freedom with it.

[John Morgan]

Dude. Nailed it. That's exactly what I was gonna say. Like, early on, you're like. At first, the first stage is like, you're too scared to say anything. And then when you finally get a little enough gall to actually say what's on your mind, you're like, oh, man, that was stupid. He didn't like it. You know, and then you get to the point eventually where you're like, yeah, here's that. And you're like, he didn't buy it on it. And then, you know, like, Brett was. Brett did that on. So we wrote One Time, Brett Beavers and I wrote One Time, and we wrote Trouble with a Heartbreak, which became a number one for both of us. Never written since he moved to Florida. I think that was his cash out. He was like, yeah, I'm. I'm. Peace and out. I'll see you later. I'm like, cool. But no, we wrote One Time, and I remember him specifically doing that in that room for that song where I was like, I threw something out that I thought was kind of cool or it might be something to it. It was a line, and he didn't say anything. He didn't acknowledge. He didn't. He wasn't like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was just. He had his phone out, and he was. He just kind of looked at me and shook his head, and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna leave. I was like, that was my cue, I think. But literally five minutes later, he's like, hey, you know that thing you said? I was, I was over here messing with it. And he literally made it cool, you know, so he took something that I thought was stupid and made it cool. It just sparked him in that. That way. So you're exactly right, man. Like, you can't be afraid to say something in a room. It's not stupid till it's stupid. Right?

[Bobby Bones]

It is a maturation process too, of going from like, I'm scared to say anything because again, in my world, pretty big fish. But I'm riding with Ross and Nicole and I know them.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And I'm like, ah, I'm sure everything about to say stupid, I don't want to say. So I went through like a hyper fast version of that, being like, I don't want to say anything because it's stupid. And then I'd be like, okay, this idea is totally stupid. Let me just. And I would preface it every time, like, how dumb. What I was about to say was just say it.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, say it.

[Bobby Bones]

And then, you know, five or six songs into it, you're just like saying the dumbest crap. And that's okay because sometimes that dumb crap would not. You would even use it. But they'd plant a seed. Sometimes they would go a direction that was similar to the dumb thing that was said.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And yeah, I was on like the super fast Billy Madison version of that. But that's. And I was glad I got to do that because I can understand when songwriters talk about that now.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Because you, who was the first songwriter that you were with, that kind of gave you a little confidence that you could hang?

[John Morgan]

Mike Delaney. Yeah, he was the first guy, first big rider that, that I got in a room with. And he was, he's just a laid back guy in general. So his, his personality is just pretty welcoming right off the bat. He's not somebody that really have to warm up to. In some ways, his humor you have to warm up to. But like him as a guy, just nicest guy in the world. And so early on, he was definitely that guy for me that I guess saw something and what I was doing and was like, I like this. We can write for these guys or let's write for you. Let's, you know, what ideas do you have? That was when I felt like, okay, I can hang. When I was throwing out my ideas that I came up with at my house and bringing them into the room and guys like him were confirming that it was A good idea. That's when I was like, that's cool, man. That encouraged me to, you know, to keep rolling because I'm like, if he likes it, then there's got to be something to it, right? So he was the first guy, like I said, Brett was another guy, you know, that really encouraged me in a lot of ways. Who else, man? There's a handful of guys. Brent Anderson, my producer, who's a guy early on, too, who really encouraged me in that way. Lydia Vaughn's a younger writer that I met. She was signed at Corman for maybe a year when we met and I was unsigned, had nothing going on, and she took a chance on riding with me. And we've written multiple times a month ever since then and become really close friends too. So, yeah, she's one of the best in town in my opinion. Just all the way around. She's as good of a lyricist as she is a melody person. You know, she can play. It's like triple threat. But those are some of the early ones for me. The Bobby cast. We'll be right back.

[C]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[D]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[C]

You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[D]

There's always a trade end.

[C]

Not right now. @ T Mobile.

[D]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[C]

That's okay.

[D]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[C]

I'm good. Seriously.

[D]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[C]

Really, I'm fine.

[D]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[E]

It's our best item phone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on us, no trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up.

[John Morgan]

To 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits.

[F]

New line 100 plus a month on experience beyond Finance Agreement 999.99 and qualifying, ported for well qualified plus tax and 10 connection charge. Payout via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits end and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel CT mobile dot com.

[John Morgan]

This is the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

How soon did you and Jason start to know each other? My Assumption is you wrote a bunch of songs, they ended up cutting and your name just showed up over and over again. Like, that would be the version in my head that plays. Because you have a lot of Aldean cuts.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And then he's like, well, this guy John keeps showing up. Maybe I should meet him. That's my fictional world of what happened, what really did happen.

[John Morgan]

That would make more sense. No, he, he. So when I first moved to town, I, you know, obviously I'd never lived in a city. I didn't know anything about Nashville really, just other than the music scene. So when I moved here, I was crashing on my drummer's couch and he was like, man, I'd love to show you around town. We went out to eat one night called an Uber. Guy picks us up, we start chatting. Really cool guy. He's telling us about his story. I've been in Nashville for 20 years. Da Da da. Written some songs for some guys back in the day. So we kind of take it with a grain of salt, right? Like everybody, everybody in Nashville's got a story and they, they're probably connected in the music industry in some way. So I didn't really think anything of it, to be honest with you. It was nice guy we met, he dropped us off. Peace out. So you never kind of thing, right? So we, we did our thing. Well, fast forward a year from that. I had been living in town, you know, writing songs. It was kind of had like a handshake deal with River House. Zeb over at Riverhouse took interest, interest in what I was doing on the production side of things. And he was like, he's like, I'll plug you in with some of my riders if you'll do the demo. And so we had this little trade off thing. Well, I was in the middle of that and I ended up getting a part time gig over at Lucky Brand at Opry Mills. I was, I was working there and in the mall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was, I was working one day and typically I was stocking shells, but they, they were shorthanded. They pulled me out on the floor. So I'm like trying to find what, what lady I wanted to try to sell jeans to. You know, it was my, my icebreaker back then didn't work too well. But no, this, I'm working. This guy walks in, I'm like, man, I know this guy from somewhere. So I started chatting with him and realized that he was my Uber driver from a year earlier. And he just randomly came into the store, was looking for Jeans.

[Bobby Bones]

And.

[John Morgan]

And so we hit it off. I was like, dude, this is crazy, you know? So he was like, what are you doing right now? And I'm like, I've got, you know, a handful of demos of songs I think are all right. And so I sent him a handful of those and he went on his way. And a couple days later he called me and was like, hey, man, like, I've been listening to some of the stuff you sent me. He's like, I feel like there's something. There's something here. There was one specific idea. He was like, I really think there's something to this. So he's like, do you mind if we revisit it? I'm like, sure. So we hop on Zoom, we start revisiting this idea. Long story short, we. We finished this idea, we do a demo for it. I sing the demo, he sends it off to guys he told me he'd been writing with forever, right? So I'm like, not thinking anything of it. About two weeks later, I get a phone call. I'm out cutting my grass, literally. Weed eating, of course. So on brand, right? Cut my grass, and I get a phone call and I answer it, and he's like, hey, man, this is Jason Aldean.

[Bobby Bones]

No way.

[John Morgan]

I got your. I got your phone number from a boy, Tully. And he was like, you know, I just been hearing some stuff you've been writing. And he's like, I'd love to. I'd love to meet in person and just, you know, hang, whatever. Meanwhile, I'm like sprinting inside to find, like a witness, right? Needed somebody to make sure this was not a prank call call to show up at Jason Aldean's house. He's like, who the hell is this guy? You know? But no, it was legit. He, He. We ended up. He. He heard that song, that demo, and a couple other ones that we had ended up finishing with some of his bandmates, Kurt and Tully, Kurt Allison and Tully Kennedy. And so we had kind of started writing as, you know, as a foursome like that. And I think we had like two or three together. So that's kind of how he heard about me. And, yeah, funny story, going to meet him for the first time, right? I'm like. I'm like, he was down in like Spring Hill. It was like an hour from me at the time. Again, had a, an older Ford that had no AC in it. And middle of August, he's like, why don't you drive down to the house? Well, hey, I'd love To meet you. So I'm like, cool. So I'm driving down Spring Hill, Every window rolled down, dude. Middle of August, you know. You know how it is here, bro. It was. I'm sweating my ass off, like, just soaking wet. My entire upper torso just soaking wet, right? And I pull up to this house, and I. I'm like. I'm, like, pulling up to the White House, right? I might get through the gate. I'm like. My truck's, like, backfiring and, like, blowing smoke out the back. You know, I'll pull up through there. And he. He comes out to. To meet me. I really have time to, like, think about it. He kind of came out. I was like, oh.

[Bobby Bones]

He.

[John Morgan]

You know, And I get out of my truck, and he dabs me up, dude. Just whole arms soaking wet from hugging me, and I was like, why does this happen? He couldn't have given me five minutes to find an old shirt in the back of my truck? You know, it was. It was the most awkward encounter at first because I was just so paranoid about my whole back being soaking wet. But he was so cool, man. He's been so cool to me ever since.

[Bobby Bones]

Connect a Uber driver from a year ago who is obviously connected and is still riding.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

To how that got to the guys in Aldean's band.

[John Morgan]

So he. Yeah, I skipped that part, I guess. He. So the Uber driver, whose name is John Edwards, he had been riding with Curt and Tully for almost a decade. He had some cuts on Aldean, like, in the early 2000s, and I think they started riding then. He had a number one with Blame it on you during kind of during that time. But, yeah, he was. He was just buddies with them. They just wrote a lot together. And so after he and I finished an idea, he sent them some other ideas that we had started, and they helped us finish.

[Bobby Bones]

Got it.

[John Morgan]

And that's kind of how they made the connection. But one. One other cool thing that. That was, like, the icing on the cake for me was, you know, ever just kind of, like. He was kind of like, a little jaded and burnt because he, you know, just been through the wringer on a few different, you know, ends of the music industry. But the coolest thing about all of it was, you know, when. When Jason offered me a pub deal, he was like, you know, I want to offer you a pub deal. Well, they also. He also offered John Evers a pub deal, too. And so that was cool to. To have the guy kind of found me initially be able to get signed with me and sign a new pub deal and write songs together again. It was really cool.

[Bobby Bones]

That is cool.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

How that all came back around.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

And it's also cool how you continue to be sweaty from driving unair conditioned. Because for those. And you probably don't know this, we didn't mention it, but John was in the bathroom changing his shirt whenever I walked in because he was sweaty in his truck with no air conditioner when he got here today. Some things never change, man.

[John Morgan]

Some things never change. Hopefully one day I'll get a vehicle with ac.

[Bobby Bones]

Why don't you get a vehicle with an ac?

[John Morgan]

You know what? I'm. I'm cheap, man. I also got three kids to feed, so I'm. That's where most of my. Most of my expenditures go.

[Bobby Bones]

I feel like maybe you don't buy an 11th guitar, but you do get an AC. Priorities, though, right?

[John Morgan]

Yeah, man. I'm not a big spender.

[Bobby Bones]

AC is not big spending. No.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, yeah, you're right. You're right. In all reality, probably not, but, you know, it also takes time, man. Like, takes time to go drop it off. I've been on the road so much, I haven't even been home. So I hear.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, I kind of don't hear you, but I. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[John Morgan]

Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor.

[C]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[D]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[C]

You don't need a trade in. When you switch to T mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[D]

There's always a trade in.

[John Morgan]

Not right now.

[C]

@ T Mobile.

[D]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[C]

That's okay.

[D]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[C]

I'm good. Seriously.

[D]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[C]

Really, I'm fine.

[D]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[E]

It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on us. No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your phone up.

[F]

To 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line, $100 plus a month on experience beyond finance agreement, $999.99 and qualifying forwarded for well qualified, plus tax and $10 connection charge. Payout via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel ct.

[John Morgan]

And we're back on the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

How was Santa My Boots Fest?

[John Morgan]

It was awesome. Yeah. Probably one of the coolest setups that I'd seen at a festival. Just as far as, like, even. Even the back, you know, backstage area. I was like, man, this is sick. Like, other than that, like, the fans showed up early for us, which was kind of a first for us at a festival, a big festival like that, you know, coming off of, like, having a number one, that's. That's. That's when you're like, okay, I get it now. Because, you know, whereas last summer, had we been booked at Santa My Boots, we would have been playing a bunch of white chairs, you know what I mean? And we did. We did do that for a long time in that 12 o' clock afternoon slot. But this year, man, like, people showed up. It was really cool to see that and see the growth, you know, on that side of things. But, yeah, the festival in general was really fun. It was a lot of. A lot of good. A lot of good people, a lot of good times.

[Bobby Bones]

Before you got here, we talked about the record Carolina Blue. We talked about your touring. So I want to use these final two questions in. In the most efficient but meaningful way possible. So question one of two right now. Who are your favorite four artists?

[John Morgan]

Current. Current artists?

[Bobby Bones]

No, no, you're right now I'm.

[John Morgan]

Of all time.

[Bobby Bones]

I come up to you, I'm like, dude, Mount Rushmore, your four favorite artists of all time. Some of them can be the same.

[John Morgan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Milsaps on there for sure. Probably I would put church in there somewhere. He's. He's been a big influence on me. Just coming from the same area, you know, and. And having that same kind of drive. Who else? That's tough, man. It's a tough question.

[Bobby Bones]

Not meant to be easy.

[John Morgan]

Keith Whitley's in there. Huge influence on me early on. Coming from the bluegrass background, you know, switching into country, I always. That always intrigued me. And just, you know, he was a stud, but Def Leppard's last. Yeah, I mean, not last, but that's. That's my last pick, man. They. They've influenced me a lot in the sonic world. I just love. I love that 80s guitar tones, the chorus, like, all that stuff. When I. When I discovered that, I was like, wow, this is. This is how A guitar should sound, you know, and fell in love with it. And they've been one of my favorites ever since.

[Bobby Bones]

Final question, what did you not expect that's happening now about being a solo artist? Frontman, solo artist with success. Like what's happening now that you didn't quite expect?

[John Morgan]

Probably just the time. I didn't, I didn't realize how much time it required number one to, you know, push a radio single. You know, that was a big eye opener for me. You know, I've had one as a songwriter but you know, being on the artist end of it, I now know what artists go through to promote that single or that album, whatever it may be. And you know, I have a lot more respect for it. And there's a lot, a little bit, probably a little sweeter in that, that regard, having a number one as an artist yourself because you're the one putting the work in. Right. But yeah, I would say probably just, you know, the time that, that you really have to. I've never been like, they'll laugh at me for saying this, but I've never been like a schedule oriented guy where I'm like have every, everything in my day planned out. You know, I'm doing this from 9:30 to the left. Like that was just never me. And not have to be that. Right. You have to be. Otherwise you, you pull time out of your personal life and you, you lose time with people that you, you know, need to spend time with or your kids or whatever it may be. It's like you have to, you have to really get it down to a science to be able to delegate yourself in the best way and not spread yourself thin. Because that's the other problem is try to do too much and, and you're not giving quality time to anybody. You're just there, you know. So that, that was probably the biggest adjustment, at least for me in my life. And the way it was to now, it was probably that.

[Bobby Bones]

Man, I really appreciate the time. This has been awesome. Like I said, I didn't know you, so this, it's always cool whenever I don't know somebody and then I spend an hour with them. Because this is a pretty intimate thing because it's just you and me depending on each other. I mean, it's a dance.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

But it's like I like it when I like somebody. After sometimes I don't.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

So a bit. Yeah. Because again, it's, it's, it's a vulnerable spot for both of us to sit here and just kind of look at each other. And roll. It's like songwriting a bit, too, where you just got to say stuff and hope the other person backs you up.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Or, like, provides. And so, yeah, I like you. Not that that matters to you, but it does.

[John Morgan]

Yeah.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, that's really.

[John Morgan]

I appreciate that. Same, same.

[Bobby Bones]

Like, seem like a. Like a real guy. And so, yeah, I'm rooting for you. And congratulations, obviously, on the single doing so well. But there's a difference, or at least at this point in my career, I can. I can feel a bit of the difference between somebody who's got a hit single and somebody who is substantial and is going to have a. Whatever the version of success is for a long time. And I feel like you very much are that second part.

[John Morgan]

Thank you.

[Bobby Bones]

Yeah, appreciate it. So, yeah, this has been really fun for me, so I really appreciate you coming over.

[John Morgan]

Same man.

[Bobby Bones]

And if you don't mind fixing that allergy in the pool on the way out.

[John Morgan]

That'd be on the way out. I got some chemicals in my trailer. Don't worry.

[Bobby Bones]

Perfect. All right, you guys, follow john@john morgan95 on Instagram.

[John Morgan]

Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production. This is an I Heart podcast.