This blog is about Morgan Wade.  Is it a live show, a new album review, or a little bit of her background?  It is all of those things.  Here’s the thing - I like punk rock, power pop, metal, Americana and classic rock.  I’m not much of a fan of mainstream country, but I have an open mind.  My wife likes quite a bit of country, but my taste in that genre is more limited to mostly female-fronted alt-country.  My favorites are Lydia Loveless, Nikki Lane, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Jade Jackson and as of right now, my absolute favorite is Morgan Wade.  I hope you will enjoy reading all about her…..

Let’s start with some background.  Morgan Wade is from Virginia, which is my home state, so that’s cool.  She is from Floyd, VA specifically, and one of her earliest shows was at FloydFest which is a somewhat famous music festival that has taken place annually for over twenty years.  She got connected with Sadler Vaden at that event in 2018, and he helped her put together her debut record, called Reckless.  Sadler Vaden is a great musician with some great solo stuff, but at that time he was playing guitar in Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.  Morgan’s debut record was released in 2021 and featured a single called “Wilder Days” that got my attention initially, but the record has several songs that are excellent.  “Last Cigarette,” “Other Side,” “Don’t Cry” and the title track are the other standouts for me.

Having become fans, my wife and I jumped at the chance to see Morgan Wade play live.  She came to The National Theater in Richmond, VA on April 16, 2023.  Opening act Meg McRee came on at 7:30 p.m.  It was just herself and another female guitarist, not a full band.  We knew a few songs from her first record, called Is It Just Me?  She has a beautiful voice.  If you want to check her out, cue up the song “Mary Jane & Chardonnay.”  Next up was our headliner, Morgan Wade.  She opened strong with “Don’t Cry” and “Last Cigarette” and played a pretty rockin’ set from start to finish.  I got a kick out of a part of the set when she did a medley of “Your Love” by The Outfield and “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield.  Somewhere in the set she also included “The Night,” which is a 2022 standalone single that is pretty good.  There was also a song called “Alanis” that is excellent.  It was from her forthcoming, as of then unreleased new record, so that was new to us.  Same goes for “Fall in Love with Me.”  “Other Side” and “Reckless” were both in the set, so that covered all of my favorites from the debut record.  She closed with “Wilder Days,” which was expected.  I think she played about 15 songs.  We loved the show and were happy to have been there.   

Just over four months after that show, on August 25, 2023, came the release of her second album, called Psychopath.  The record was produced by Sadler Vaden again.  It is a home run.  I like this record even more than the debut.  It’s chock full of great songs that make me really want to see another show so I can hear them all played live.  I’m not going to run through each & every one of the songs, but I’ll mention a few.  “Domino” starts the record off strong.  “Losers Like Me” is lyrically outstanding and the aforementioned “Alanis” is a great song, coming in at track six.  Track eight is the title track and it’s great, but I think my favorite song is the final track on the record, track 12, called “Meet Somebody.”  That one is kind of a haunting rock song to me, not very country at all.  I find the record to be more rock n roll and less country in general than the debut, and that’s probably one reason that I love it so much.

That’s pretty much everything I can share about my Morgan Wade experience.  Sit back, relax and dig all these great videos…

     Wilder Days / from Reckless

Don’t Cry / from Reckless

80’s Movie / from Psychopath

   Alanis (Live Performance)

     Fall in Love with Me / from Psychopath

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in the Nation’s Capital and grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  He just turned 60 years old, he has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter.  He leads a bit of a double life, working by day as the chief administrative officer of a VA county, and spending as many nights as possible listening to live rock n roll with his wife at any club that has a decent band within 100 miles or so of their house (and sometimes further).