By Brent Thompson
Myles Morgan had an idea that quickly turned his music career’s spark into a flame. “The whole reason I started producing my own music and my career was because of a concert I went to at Iron City in Birmingham last February,” the singer/guitarist recalls, speaking by phone from his Orange Beach home. “I went to a Larry Fleet concert—he’s a country artist—with my girlfriend for a late Valentine’s Day present. I brought a sign with me that said, ‘Can I play “Where I Find God” with you? I wrote it on a poster board, and it was his most popular song.”
Fleet acknowledged Morgan but didn’t bring him on stage to play the song. What he did do was get his photographer to take Morgan backstage after the show to meet him. “I talked to Larry for a while and stayed in touch with him,” Morgan says.
Neat story, right? Well, it doesn’t end there. “His photographer turned out to be Matthew Paskert, who is Morgan Wallen’s photographer,” Morgan continues. “I stayed in touch with Matthew and told him I was playing a festival in Tuscaloosa over the summer and asked him to come shoot it for me.” Paskert was going on tour with Wallen but connected Morgan with a videographer named Alex Ayala who worked with Niko Moon.
Ayala then connected Morgan with Dalton Wixom and Clayton Collins, Nashville producers who worked with Wallen and other artists. “I went and met them and they produced my first song on my birthday, May 7, 2024,” Morgan says. Wixom and Collins introduced Morgan to their friend Dominic Frost, who is Wallen’s lead guitarist. “They got Dom playing on all my songs,” he says. “To this day, I get to work with them every time I make music. Dom is a good friend of mine now, and he plays on all of my records. It was crazy, divine intervention.”
It should also be noted that in addition to navigating a career that is on the fast track, Morgan is also currently a student at the University of Alabama. And, not so long ago, music wasn’t his primary focus or even in his plans. “I was born and raised in Birmingham,” he says. “We lived in Hoover, and I went to Spain Park High School. I was a baseball player and thought that was what I was going to do with my life. In my junior year of high school, I picked up a guitar for the first time and started learning how to play a couple of songs. We moved to Orange Beach for my senior year of high school, so I graduated high school from Orange Beach, and I was still picking and learning how to play [guitar] over that senior year.”
Before long, Morgan’s fascination with the guitar became his ticket to summer employment. “My dad told me, ‘You need to get a job—you’re about to go to college,’” Morgan recalls. “So, I asked if I could get a job playing guitar. He said, ‘If you can figure it out, then sure.’ I went around to a bunch of different restaurants and asked to play. Eventually, one of them called Ginny Lane let me play. It’s at [shopping and entertainment complex] The Wharf. I started playing there and a few more restaurants over the summer, and that was when I got the opportunity to play at the Flora-Bama before I went off to college.”
Morgan’s next stop was Tuscaloosa, where he enrolled as a freshman and put music on the backburner. “I joined a fraternity at Alabama (Phi Gamma Delta), and I had to put a pause on music because of pledgeship,” he says. “Finally, I finished and got a few gigs in Tuscaloosa. I came back after that year and started playing more at the Flora-Bama—they took me in and treated me like family.”
So, the obvious question must be asked: How does Morgan juggle student life and a burgeoning music career? “Luckily, it’s died down recently because of summertime, and we’ve been able to spend more time in Orange Beach,” he says. “But it is a challenge. You go from Nashville to Tuscaloosa to Orange Beach. I’ve managed to keep the grades pretty good so far, but it’s going to get harder with more touring, so I may look into online options.”
And of touring, Morgan is eager to share some recent career news. “I just signed with WME [William Morris Endeavor], the top talent agency in the world,” he says with excitement. “So, we are about to start getting real busy, real soon.” With a history of more than 100 years, WME represents musicians, actors, athletes and digital creators among others. In addition, Morgan will headline a show at Iron City on Friday, July 18.
Morgan is also excited to be forging his career in an era that allows artists easy access to new listeners and existing fans alike. Social media outlets like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and others have removed barriers between artists and the public. But, beyond his musical content, Morgan wants his followers to know him as a person.
“It definitely makes it easier because people can connect with your personality,” he explains. “They like to hear your music, obviously, but on places like TikTok and Instagram you can post your daily life and get people to like you for who you are. They’re great outlets to show your personality and get people to know you—plus it’s a fun thing to do.”
But among the tours, press requests (including the one he received from us), and his other commitments, Morgan knows the primary focus is writing and creating. To that end, he explains his process that places him in the listener’s shoes.
“Sometimes inspiration does strike, and those are arguably the best songs,” Morgan says. “But there’s nothing wrong with sitting down and saying, ‘What do we want to write a song about?’ I’ve sat on my back porch and just brainstormed from past experiences I’ve dealt with—happy things and sad things. I think, ‘What is most relatable? What do people want to hear in a song?’ And see where that takes me.”
