is one of the hottest names in country music. His star continues to rise. His name has been (for better and worse) on the tip of a lot of tongues. And with the release of Dangerous: The Double Album, the Tennessee native has taken the next ambitious step in his budding career.
Ambitious is a versatile word when describing artistic endeavours, and it's versatile within the context of Dangerous itself. The double album, 30-song offering (with bonus content available via select exclusive retail partners) is a big swing - one that isn't the norm for a lot of reasons. It's hard to get that many songs together that you can get recorded and be happy with. It's hard to find that many songs that fit the same project in the same time. It's expensive to record a lot of songs. But for Morgan, it feels like that swing has made solid contact.
Aside from the length, the content is ambitious as well. It would have been easy for Morgan Wallen to look for 11 songs that tried to capture the kind of lightning in a bottle that Whiskey Glasses did. He didn't do that. And that's a good thing.
Morgan Wallen at Boots and Hearts 2019
What listeners get on Dangerous: The Double Album is 1 hour and 37 minutes of country music that they should want to dig into if they've enjoyed anything Wallen has offered them to this point. And if you are a fan already of his recent #1 singles, More Than My Hometown (US Country Airplay) and 7 Summers (US Country) then hell yes you'll want to jump right into this entire double album.
Note: On Tuesday, January 12, 2021 - Wallen will perform in a global livestream event from, live from The Ryman Auditorium at 9 pm EST. The event is free and will be available on his and pages. See the poster at the bottom of this post.
What captured my attention with this album (both of them) is the emotional depth and availability so many of these songs offer up. These aren't just feel good party time drinking songs. These are break up songs and sad songs and love songs and leaving songs. And it's a country album that knows it's a country album so there are beer and whiskey and dirt road and truck references too. Morgan Wallen isn't hiding his roots or his personal perspective. It's all right there.
And you know what, he sings really well on this album too.
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I'm a fan of a slowed-down song that is either meant to break my heart or fill it with secondhand joy. And when Morgan Wallen sings about his sunburnt Silverado on Sand in My Boots and then about selling that same Chevy truck on Silverado for Sale, he's got me. And I'm a sucker for the regret and desperation, etc. on 865. It feels like someone lived that one. Kudos to the writers, Blake Pendergrass and John Byron.
I'm also in on the collaborations. With 30 songs to share, there was certainly room to bring in some complementary voices. And with Ben Burgess and Chris Stapleton - he chose well. Both Outlaw and Only Thing That's Gone are good listens, and being able to team up with respected names and voices is always a good sign from an industry side, a personal point for the artist, and for fans who get to enjoy the results. And, while we're talking about collaborative artists - though he isn't on the song vocally, it's impossible to miss Jason Isbell as the songwriter and original singer of the very good Cover Me Up.
To my ears, there's not a stand out ' Whiskey Glasses moment' in Dangerous: The Double Album. I don't hear any of these songs and imagine the singalong and ovation that I saw at Boots & Hearts in 2019. But, I do think that Country A$$ Shit is going to get some people revved up and singing along with their drinks up in the air. And, at the end of the day, he'll always still have Whiskey Glasses to put in the set if he wants to get that big pop from the crowd.
In a press release sent out on Friday morning with the album drop, Wallen is quoted, "Started writing for this album two and a half years ago and had no idea what those two and a half years were going to bring. I tried to put all of those emotions from that time into one album but couldn't - so we decided to make two. I hope you listen and it brings you some escape, some joy, some peace. That's what I've found in it. Thanks for all of the support and I can't wait to play these for y'all live one day."
We'll see some of the songs live on Tuesday night from The Ryman, and when it's safe and we're able to see Morgan Wallen up on stage in-person again, we'll be ready for them then too.
For now, Dangerous: The Double Album is unmistakably a new chapter for Morgan Wallen and one that he may pull more #1s from, will certainly have additional radio singles, and if he's lucky, will find the kind of connection with fans that every singer and songwriter is hoping to find.
By the time the double album ends with Quittin' Time (another emotional downer, with Eric Church, Josh Thompson, and Luke Laird as writers), listeners will have spent as much time with Morgan Wallen's voice as they do with some movies. It's an album that fans will be able to put on in the background without worrying about needing to start over or choose something else 20 minutes later. And that's just one more thing to give him credit for.
Check the complete 30-song tracklist here and hit play on Dangerous: The Double Album now!
Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (Album 1) Tracklist
Up Down - Morgan Wallen Interview, Axes & 5 Quick Questions
Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album (Album 2) Tracklist