Drink Up

Already making huge waves overseas, rising Australian country music star MORGAN EVANS takes us through his debut album, Things That We Drink To…

- Morgan Evans

Now based in Nashville, USA, this lad from Newcastle, NSW is blowing up in America and recently scored his first U.S. radio number one hit for his killer tune “Kiss Somebody”. Now, with the release of his debut album, Morgan Evans tells MAXIM all about it. “My album is a collection of songs I wrote over the last two years,” he explains. “It’s my story. It’s leaving behind everything and everyone you know to chase down a country music dream on the other side of the world. It’s the excitement of the unknown, it’s the fun, it’s the loneliness and it’s the struggle. It’s losing someone and finding the strength to keep your head up and make them proud. It’s meeting a girl, falling hopelessly and marrying the love of your life. It’s the things that we drink to.”

1 — “AMERICAN”: This is one of my favourite songs on the record. It’s a love song but not in the traditional sense. I moved over from Australia to Nashville three-and-a-half years ago and I’ve just fallen in love with this country. Travelling around it, playing country music, getting to meet different people… and this song is like a love song to America and at the same time a love song to my American girl, too.

2 — “KISS SOMEBODY”: This song came about as kind of like advice I was giving which is not something I often do. I became quite good friends with a guy in Nashville — I’d come over on writing trips from Australian, before I moved, and stay with him instead of staying at a hotel. He had a girl and they were in love and then they broke and he was heartbroken. I get that, I was there for him through the whole process. I went back to Australia and a year-and-a -alf later I came back and he was still heartbroken over the same girl. I was like, “Dude, you need to kiss somebody.”