Morris on her ‘Humble Quest’
One of country’s biggest stars is bringing a more scaled-back show to Portsmouth June 11
This summer finds Maren Morris joining the ranks of country music’s major stars as she headlines outdoor amphitheaters and other large venues for the first time in her career.
Despite this step up, Morris said she’s scaled back on the bells and whistles in her show. This might come as a surprise given that for many artists, the larger the venue, the bigger the spectacle.
“On my last tour, we had a video wall and an elevator and steps with lights all over them and fog and bubbles,” Morris said in an early May Zoom interview. “So yeah, in some ways, I feel like this one is really stripping it back. It’s definitely bigger, but it’s not as splashy as the last tour production.”
Morris won’t need the theatrics when she performs June 11 at Portsmouth’s Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion.
The more relaxed sound of her latest album, “Humble Quest,” coupled with the emotional storytelling of the lyrics, call for a show that puts the focus on the songs.
The mid-tempo tune “I Can’t Love You Anymore” (one of several written with husband and fellow country star, Ryan Hurd), is a tale of lasting love that, ironically, was written after the couple had an argument. On the delicate “Hummingbird” she sings the praises of motherhood. On the frisky pop-ish, “Circles Around This Town” Morris recounts a long path to success (more on that later) and how she remains driven to make meaningful music. She shows her lighter side on “Tall Guys,” a sweet and sprightly tune about the appeal of guys who possess considerable verticality.
“Humble Quest” was born out of a period that included some major life events for Morris and her husband. In 2019, she was rocked by the death of Busbee, the highly successful songwriter who had produced Morris’ first two albums — and had become a good friend of the couple.
In March 2020, as COVID19 was hitting and hospitals were becoming crowded, Morris gave birth to the couple’s first child, Hayes. With the joy came a bout of postpartum depression that Morris has said lasted six months.
Then, of course, there was the pandemic itself, which meant Morris couldn’t tour. With music on hold, she felt like she had lost a chunk of her purpose in life.
The one thing Morris could still hang onto was writing songs and making records. At one point she was driving around Nashville and the words humble quest popped into her head. She was struck by the phrase, but wasn’t sure what it meant. But as she wrote the remaining songs, she felt it encompassed the stories on the album and described her journey in life and music.
“It’s this never-ending circle,” Morris said. “There’s no linear start and finish.
Your life is just memories upon memories and learning from mistakes and growing and getting humbled along the way.”
Morris knows a few things about being humbled. She spent more than 10 years touring around her home state of Texas, self-releasing three albums and trying out for virtually every television talent show, including “The Voice,” “American Idol,” “America’s Got Talent” and “Nashville Star,” and being rejected by each one. Yet she never let go of her dream of a career in country music.
Things began to turn when Morris moved to Nashville, where she got songs recorded by the likes of Tim McGraw and Kelly Clarkson. She self-released a self-titled EP in 2015 and saw it amass 2.5 million streams in just one month. Columbia Nashville then signed Morris, re-released the EP and saw its single, “My Church” go Top 5 on “Billboard” magazine’s country songs chart.
The hits have kept coming, as her first two albums — 2016’s “Hero” and 2019’s “Girl” — gave her three chart-topping singles. Along the way, she saw her duet with electronic superstar Zedd on the 2018 song “In The Middle” become a crossover smash and she joined Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby to form the super group, The Highwomen.
“Circles Around This Town,” has already cracked the Top 10 on “Billboard’s” country chart. Morris is looking forward to her first outing as an amphitheater headliner.
“It’s the longest show that I’ve done thus far,” Morris said, “so we’re trying to cram as much in there as we can,”
IF YOU GO
When: 8 p.m. June 11
Where: Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion, 16 Crawford Circle, Portsmouth
Tickets: Start at $22.50 Details: pavilionconcerts.com