Watch Maren Morris Sing an Impressive, Impromptu Duet on the National Anthem With Stephen Colbert

Gil Kaufman
·3 min read
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Maren Morris visited The Late Show on Tuesday night (April 9) to promote her new children’s book and sit on the couch to chat with host Stephen Colbert for the first time after several earlier performances on the show. But the “Circles Around This Town” singer ended up singing anyway after she told Colbert about one of the weirdest gigs she had as a child star.

Considering the 34-year-old has been performing since she was 10, Morris said she has definitely had a “few weirdo ones,” including a number of chili cook-off shows and a weekly Saturday gig during high school singing the National Anthem at amateur wrestling bouts for $100 a shot. “That takes about 90 seconds, so the rest of the night my friends in high school would watch and cheer on these wrestlers,” she said.

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“I had the most fun and it was a fun way to make money and be patriotic,” she added. After Morris explained that she did the Anthem a cappella, Colbert asked if they could perform an impromptu duet on the notoriously hard-to-sing “Star-Spangled Banner” sometime. Morris agreed to the request, even as Colbert admitted he only knows the bassline of the song, but cannot sing the melody.

“I think you and I could rock it,” he assured her. Morris was up to the challenge, offering Colbert the sage advice that you need to “start low” or else your voice will run out of road by the sky-high ending. Morris then began singing, with Colbert adding the low notes as they sang directly to each other, with the host leaning into the rumbly bass part as the singer’s voice jumped up during the “rockets’ red glare” portion and Colbert holding a killer from-the-bottom note that made her crack up.

With some gentle acoustic guitar accompaniment from the house band, the pair made it to the end impressively as Morris asked in wonder, “Where did that come from?” Colbert loved it so much he proposed that they do it again at an amateur wrestling match some day, suggesting they could split the $100 fee.

South Carolina-bred Colbert also couldn’t resist talking Southern cuisine with Texas-born Morris, asking the singer if she misses the tastes and smells of home after living in Nashville for 11 years. “That’s South, but they have not figured out Tex-Mex food,” Morris lamented about her adopted home town, saying Music City has great food and culture, but not a hint of her favorite Lone Star flavors.

Morris joked that opening a Tex-Mex joint in Nashville could be next move, though her dream has always been to have her own bar in town called “My Church,” which would, of course, be housed in an old church. The singer also stuck around to promote her new children’s book, Addie Ant Goes on an Adventure, which she co-wrote wit her best friend, Karina Argow.

Watch Morris on The Late Show below.

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