Country neo-traditionalist William Michael Morgan is bringing ’70s swagger back to Nashville with his brand new, six-song EP Onto Something, set for release Friday, March 15, on all platforms via ONErpm Nashville. Morgan will celebrate the release on the eve of its arrival with a one-hour pop-up set at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red in downtown Nashville, Thursday, March 14.
“I couldn’t be more excited to get this EP out,” says the hard-working Morgan, with his famous mustache grin. “Tracking with (multiple CMA, ACM and Grammy Award-winning producer) Keith Stegall was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we put together.”
“William’s new music is a welcome addition to the increasingly popular neo-traditional movement that websites like Saving Country Music have credited him with starting,” notes Ryan Cunningham, A&R director of Country Music for ONErpm. “This EP will stand out amid the pop influences that currently define modern country.”
And there’s plenty to notice. The two pre-released tracks, the mid-tempo “In Walked You” with its breezy barroom vibe—In walked you on a Saturday night/Neon blue lightin’ up your eyes—countered by the wistfulness of the bittersweet “Not Letting Go”—We’ve gone too far to get back to where we were before—sets the tone for a free-flowing, six-song set with fiddle and steel guitar licks evocative of the lyrical stylings of decades past.
“Country music is alive and well,” states one of Nashville’s most celebrated men behind the scenes and multi-award-winning producer Keith Stegall. “It lives and breathes when William Michael Morgan picks up a guitar and tells us stories of love lost and honky-tonks found. Country music at its finest.”
Morgan’s current single, “Pour A Little Whiskey On It,” is like a salve for the EP’s more vulnerable moments. When he croons, If it’s gonna be a lonely night/Might as well put her memory on ice, you know what’s coming—a straight-up drinking song that seeks to right the wrongs with every cowboy (and cowgirl)’s favorite libation:
If she’s really adios,
I guess it’s easy come, easy go;
I might as well honky tonk it,
Maybe all night long it;
Take this heartache to town,
And pour a little whiskey on it
The EP’s release will be capped off by the premiere of Morgan’s music video for the track “Pour A Little Whiskey On It” coming later this month.
Morgan and Stegall round the album out with the title track, a gentle nod to the promise of a new relationship; the regret-tinged “She Don’t Like Old Country”; and a goodbye/destination song that, despite the lyrics, isn’t quite as sad as it could be—and maybe that’s the point.