“Cheers to you, and cheers to 2020 almost being over,” Maren Morris proclaimed, holding up her margarita-filled cup from the stage of Brooklyn Bowl Nashville during Friday’s livestream. The country star has kept plenty busy during this unpredictable year, winning three CMA Awards, releasing the moving anthem for social change “Better Than We Found It” and giving birth to a son.
Last year, Morris spent most of her time out on the road in support of her second album Girl, performing at festivals like Bonnaroo and CMA Fest and selling out venues across the country. Although her visit to the more intimate Brooklyn Bowl was still without a physical crowd, fans from across the globe were shown on TVs throughout the venue, cheering Morris on and interacting with her throughout the night. She happily pointed out a few young fans watching along from home with guitars in hand, playing along with her through the hour-and-a-half set.
The unrelenting energy Morris radiated made it obvious that she was thrilled to be back onstage. From the tongue-in-cheek “Rich” to the achingly nostalgic “A Song for Everything,” she showed off all the reasons why she’s quickly become one of country’s biggest names.
Morris moved through some of her more emotionally charged tracks, from her first career No. 1 hit “I Could Use a Love Song” to “I Wish I Was,” which began with her whole band joining in for a stunning a cappella moment. Later she welcomed Ryan Hurd, her husband and “baby daddy,” as she jokingly called him, to the stage. Hurd sang the baritone duet part sung by Brothers Osborne’s T.J. Osborne on the recorded version “All My Favorite People,” an upbeat Girl standout.
“I wish my girls were here,” she told the online crowd, referring to her bandmates Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires of The Highwomen, whose “Crowded Table” just earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. Morris saluted the group and their stellar 2019 album with “Loose Change,” an infectious song she wrote just after moving to Nashville from Texas eight years ago and finally recorded for the country supergroup's debut self-titled album.
In a genre in which many artists opt to gloss over tough subjects like politics or gender and racial equality, Morris chooses time and again to raise her voice about issues that are close to her heart. During the stream, Morris played a song she had written just a day before with Shane McAnally and Jimmy Robbins about her experience with postpartum depression. Depression, Morris said, is “a very real thing that we all have dealt with in some point of our lives, whether it's intense or light. I feel great now, but it is a real thing. It’s not a choice.”
Tentatively titled “If I Just Get Out of My Way,” the song finds Morris examining her choices and the ways she’s coped with tough times in the past. “This stubborn soul is mine for saving,” she sang, sounding as if she was making a promise to herself. “I know I’m gonna make it to the stars someday, if I just get out of my way.”
She wrapped the set with a one-two punch of her CMA Award-winning hit single “The Bones” and “My Church,” the song that catapulted her into the spotlight back in 2016. Those who tuned in were treated to a trademark performance from Morris, who has mastered a delicate balance that all top-tier performers strive for. She knows how to put on an energetic, large-scale live show that still feels intimate, even viewed through a screen.
