Morgan Evans may live in Nashville, Tennessee and sing with a southern drawl, but the country music star is still as Aussie as they come after growing up in Newcastle.
“I’ve been hanging around with Americans for the last few days, so it’s hard to not just assimilate,” Evans tells 9Honey Celebrity cheekily.
He still sounds Australian over zoom, though the American twang slips out on words that end in ‘r’, so why does he ditch his Aussie accent when he sings? According to Evans, it wasn’t deliberate.
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“When I go to sing, it just sounds like that. And when I do an Australian accent while singing, it feels very unnatural,” he admits.
The 38-year-old has been asked about it so many times since he broke into the industry in 2007 that he actually researched why singing in an Aussie accent feels so wrong.
“I looked up why everyone sings in an American accent, because even Ed Sheeran and Adele and the Beatles, all these big British acts, sing with an American accent a lot,” he says.
“It’s something to do with the way the American accent approaches the vowel sounds that just sounds nicer over music… so for me, it’s not really a choice.”
The long, neutral vowel techniques favoured by well-trained singers often sound like an American accent, which is why Evans seems to ditch his Aussie accent on stage.
He also grew up listening to country legends Keith Urban and Brad Paisley so it’s no wonder the accent stuck – among other things.
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There’s a running joke that country artists sing about just three things; booze, women and trucks. After decades of loving and making this music, Evans admits there’s some truth to it.
“I do like drinking beer, and I do like women, and I really like my old truck as well… they’re the sort of things that a lot of people can relate to” he laughs.
“Most of my songs are just about my life in general, and I think the best ones – or the ones that I like the most, at least – are the most honest ones.”
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His latest EP is stacked with songs about life, “growing up” in his career, and “relationships with different people” following his divorce from fellow country star Kelsea Ballerini last year.
Over For You was one of the first singles off the EP, titled Life Upside Down, and was written in the weeks after his marriage ended last year.
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The couple began dating in 2016 and tied the knot in December 2017.
Ballerini announced she and Evans were divorcing in August 2022 and it was finalised just over a month later.
Now Evans is looking towards the future, both in his latest single On My Own Again and as he prepares to return to Australia for his Life Upside Down tour.
“Both countries have been really good to me.”
“It’ll be the longest I’ve spent in Australia since I moved, these shows are going to be really special,” he says, referencing his move to Nashville, Tennessee in 2015.
Evans credits the town – known as ‘Music City’ – and its community of creatives for his international success, admitting he wouldn’t be as popular as he is today had he remained living in Australia.
One very famous Nashville local who played a role in his rise to fame is none other than Taylor Swift, who hand-picked Evans to open her first ever Australian tour in 2009.
Back then she played at tiny venues, not the massive stadiums she sold out for her upcoming Eras Tour dates.
“I do have very, very fond memories of that tour… playing in 1500 people rooms with the biggest artist in the world was a pretty wild experience,” he recalls.
So, did he hope to score another supporting spot on her Eras Tour in 2023?
“No. If she called and asked me, I would say yes. But there wasn’t any part of me that was like, ‘I’m pretty sure she’s going to call me,'” he says.
After all, Evans has his own Australian tour to focus on, which includes his debut performance at the Sydney Opera House and three very special Newcastle dates.
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“The fact that we’re going home to play three shows in my hometown might be the highest point of pride for anything that I’ve done so far,” he says earnestly.
He got his start there as a kid in a band, following in the footsteps of another big local talent as they won one music contest after another.
“[Newcastle] was the hometown of Silverchair as well, they were a few years older than my brother, my best mate and I when we started our first band,” Evans says.
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Now it feels like he’s coming full circle, returning to the town where his love affair with country music began to play to sold-out venues that will be packed with local fans.
Local fans who behave very differently to his American fans, Evans reveals.
“Americans would be more inclined to stop someone on the street than Australians. An Australian is probably more inclined to just give you the nod or say, ‘love the music mate,'” he says.
“Both countries have been really good to me over the last few years and I always appreciate it when someone goes out of their way to say ‘hey’ or get a picture.”
Morgan Evans will be in Australia for his Life Upside Down Tour this August and September. Tickets are now on sale here.