Ep. 242: Megan Moroney | The Unlikely Road of a Country Superstar

And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan

And The Writer Is

Music Creation, Artists, Music Interviews, Education, Interviews, Songwriters, Music, Songwriting

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2026

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s guest is one of the fastest-rising voices in modern country — a songwriter whose honesty, wit, and emotional precision have turned deeply personal stories into songs heard everywhere. She just became the 10th woman of the century to top the Billboard 200.

Before the sold-out shows and chart-topping records, she was a college student playing small gigs with her dad and brother, trying to figure out where music might fit into her life.

One honest song at a time, she began building a catalog that feels both timeless and unmistakably her own.

Now, with a growing fanbase and a string of hits helping shape the sound of modern country, she’s writing the next chapter of her career in real time.

And The Writer Is… Megan Moroney!

In this episode of And The Writer Is… Megan opens up about:

• The unexpected moment that pushed her toward learning guitar

• Growing up around music and playing early shows with her family

• The traumatic accident that jumpstarted her music career

• Finding her voice in the Nashville songwriting community

• Why honesty and humor are essential to her writing

• How she stood out in early co-writes

• And much more…

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

A special thank you to our sponsors…

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishing Association. Your support means the world to us.And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

5:00 Moving to Nashville: The First Steps

6:00 Working in the Music Industry Before Releasing Music

7:00 The Advice That Started Her Career

10:00 Growing Up Around Music in Georgia

13:50 “I Went to School to Be an Accountant”

16:30 Musical Theatre and Feeling Out of Place

18:56 The Accident That Started Everything

24:01 The Sorority Event That Led to Georgia Theatre

32:25 Learning the Business of Music in School

33:00 The Internship That Changed Everything

35:00 Creating the Tennessee Orange Cover Art on Her Phone

38:45 Writing Every Day and Building a Network in Nashville

40:20 NMPA — Our Lead Sponsor This Season

41:00 Splice

41:45 The Story of Tennessee Orange

45:50 How Influencing Helped Pay the Bills

47:10 Megan’s Writing Process

52:15 Exploring the Studio

54:10 Working With Ed Sheeran

58:42 A Full-Circle Moment With Kacey Musgraves

1:09:00 The Story of “Beautiful Things”

1:15:55 Rapid Fire

1:21:26 Megan Gives the Podcast Flowers

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Edited by Jad Saad

Post-Production VFX by Pratik Karki

Watercolor Art by Michael White

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Too many things had to go right, too many stars had to align for this not to be what I'm supposed to be doing right now.
0:07.0	Let's start from the beginning a bit.
0:11.0	I didn't grow up thinking that I wanted to be a country superstar.
0:14.0	I went to school to be an accountant.
0:16.0	That's what I thought I was going to do.
0:18.0	Really?
0:19.0	Yeah. I was cheerleading. I was tumbling. I tumbled off the mat. My knee slammed on a basketball gym floor and my kneecap went through my cartilage. I was in a wheelchair for two months and I learned how to play guitar. I moved to town June 1st, 2020 to Nashville, like right in the middle of COVID. I would take meetings with anyone that would talk to me because I'm like, what should I do? Let me know how I can improve, what I can do better,
0:40.6	and I ended up posting a TikTok of me in the car. I didn't think that radio would play anything like that.
0:47.7	And here we are. My parents, I appreciate them for being so real with me. They were like,
0:52.5	you can work really hard and have amazing songs,
0:55.3	and it still could not work for you.
0:56.9	So I always say to any of my younger artist friends
1:01.2	to do as much as you can on your own,
1:03.1	like figure it out until you absolutely can't anymore.
1:06.5	How do you feel about the state of country music right now?
1:10.5	With artists like Lainey and Ella, us three were the most nominated at the CMA Awards.
1:16.1	The more successful we can be, the more it opens up lanes for other women.
1:20.2	Is it what you thought it would be?
1:23.5	This season is presented by NMPA, the National Music Publishers Association, champions of songwriters and publishers everywhere.
1:32.7	Welcome to Anne the Writer is. I am your host, Ross Golan.
1:37.3	Today's rising star epitomizes the modern country music business because her fan base is more loyal to her than Georgians are to
1:47.0	Bulldogs. She's a clever lyricist. She's an honest storyteller and she's a fearless human because
	...

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