Singer-songwriter John Morgan's career-driven country music yields radio-ready debut EP

John Morgan likely co-wrote the 2022 Academy of Country Music Award-winning Single of the Year — Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood's piano ballad "If I Didn't Love You" — after driving an Uber shift.

The married farmer and former bluegrass-playing native of North Carolina's Smoky Mountains was balancing keeping the lights on and his dreams alive.

Three years later, on Oct. 6, 2023, Morgan released his debut major label EP, "Remember Us," He is also signed to Broken Bow Records imprint Night Train Records.

No longer an aspiring performer struggling to unify his dreams with reality, Morgan is now a Music City songwriting star, plus the father of a newborn with another child on the way.

"('If I Didn't Love You') paid for so many diapers for my daughter, man," he says.

In a chat with The Tennessean, Morgan is revealed as being as much an artist as he is a pragmatic creator who could just as well be a beef cattle breeder.

Regardless of whatever he's doing or making, he's keenly aware that he can now hit the "broadest audience possible" with his handicraft.

He does so by not solely reflecting on his own stories but finding ways to learn from and evolve the work of some of the genre's icons and successful songwriting tropes of the past three decades.

For the EP track "Cold Summer in San Antone," Morgan initially crafted the song to reach more than Aldean's current position at the pinnacle of the country's mainstream acclaim.

"I hoped that George Strait would've bitten on that one when it was pitched to him," says Morgan, mentioning the iconic Country Music Hall of Famer's home area.

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"Ain't Been There Yet" is the hook-driven song he has kept for himself amid his ever-busy schedule as an in-demand co-writer.

The song highlights his acoustic guitar-picking roots and allows his fast-rising songwriting bona fides to include David Lee Murphy, a chart-topping '90s country singer ("Dust in the Bottle") and 21st century country chart-topping songwriter (Kenny Chesney's "Living in Fast Forward" and Aldean's "Big Green Tractor") .

Morgan is a meticulous creator whose tireless work ethic, plus self-critiques of his guitar tones and lyrical phrasing, allow his songs to sound similar to so much of what has fueled mainstream country's machine but also sound removed from the idea of having to check specific (stereotypical) boxes because "That's the way it's always been done."

Being an artist capable of selling a lucrative, hyper-connective product seems to be a common denominator of any current-era Music City artist desiring stardom. However, taking something that appears to work 100% of the time and offering it 110% effort is uniquely noteworthy.

"I'm cutting my demos of things that sound cool to me, more than anyone, by modern standards," Morgan adds. "Taking what works and mixing in a few little details that are weirdly unique makes the material sound better."

"It Ain't the Leavin'" centers on heartbreak's chaotic emotions, while "Won't Be As Good" is a lovelorn but up-tempo groove. Notably, "Friends Like That" is a live concert favorite whose banjo and steel underpinnings still allow room for a hard-rocking core like Dierks Bentley's catalog of hits.

"('Remember Us') is a musical collage that will stamp me as a legitimate Nashville artist," says Morgan about his EP in full.

"I'm not stressing about too much of anything and trying to enjoy everything I'm doing. I'm just a level-headed guy who wants to reach my audience where their organic passions lie and allow them to enjoy my attempt to further establish myself."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Songwriter John Morgan offers radio-ready debut EP 'Remember Us'