Humble Quest

Maren Morris

Released on 25/03/22 by Columbia Nashville
Main artists: Maren Morris
Genre: Country

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Maren Morris has settled into a sweet spot with her third record. Produced by Greg Kurstin (Adele, Halsey), it's still more country than her last album, Girl. With Morris—who went full pop on her massive 2018 Zedd collaboration "The Middle"—wearing a crown on the back cover, plus songs about unity and supporting the sisterhood, Girl practically screamed "millennial pop country." Humble Quest feels more rooted, both musically and personally. There are love songs for her husband, singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd, like flirty "Tall Guys," a beachbum vibe crossed with '60s girl-group sighs and packed tight with Morris' signature wordplay: "Keeps me looking up when I'm feeling down ... when I can't see over he puts me on his shoulder." (Morris is 5'1"; Hurd is 6'3".) Loosely rollicking "I Can't Love You Anymore" is clearly about Hurd (the clues include him being from Michigan and "so good-looking it kind of makes me sick"). Their toddler son, Hayes, can be heard cooing at the start of acoustic "Hummingbird"; with its Appalachian gothic vibe, it recalls Gillian Welch—intriguing new territory for Morris. The same goes for "Nervous," an edgy, sexy, '80s-inflected hard-charger. To the easy, early Sheryl Crow groove of "Circles Around This Town," Morris writes her own history of arriving in Nashville. "I swear I don't know how I trusted/ A Montero with the AC busted/ A couple bad demos on a burned CD/ Would take me all the way to Tennessee," she sets it up, explaining how she "Drove circles around this town/ Trying to write circles around this town." She thinks about leaving, then catches her break with early hits: "Couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked/ Was the one about a car and the one about a church" ("'80s Mercedes," "My Church"). And even now that she's had number one records and won CMA, ACM and Grammy Awards, the drive hasn't really changed: "I still got the pedal down/ I still get lost, I still get found." With its catchy vocal-melody ascent and pure country roots, "Detour" feels like an outtake from Morris' great Hero. "What Would This World Do?" is a piano ballad, sung with Hurd, that's heart-tugging in the Brandi Carlile vein. And Morris has practically guaranteed her future as a wedding-dance staple with "Background Music." Swoony and free-floating like a feather, it's a true-love ballad that measures mortality: "We call it forever but we know that there's an end to it/ You and I can dance our way through it/ And I'll love you 'til all that we are is background music," she sings. But it's obviously also incredibly personal for her and Hurd and their musical legacy. "Maybe all we'll ever be to them in a hundred years is three minutes in a car, in a bar, that says we were here." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Humble Quest

Maren Morris

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Circles Around This Town