Country music's coolest new star makes splash
Morgan Wade thrills a sold-out Fillmore crowd
Morgan Wade was in the midst of telling a story about, of all things, her energy bill when she suddenly stopped herself.
“I'm getting old,” the 28-year-old singer-songwriter blurted out to the crowd during her sold-out show at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Tuesday night. “I'm drinking peppermint tea and talking to you all about lightbulbs.”
Yes, things are changing for this recent homebuyer, as more and more fans begin to find out about the coolest new artist in all of country music. And if things continue to escalate at this pace — for example, if she ends up winning breakthrough female video of the year for “Wilder Days” at the CMT Music Awards in April (as she should) — then she'll be able to buy more houses and have even bigger electric bills to complain about.
Wade underscored all the reasons why so many people are excited about her career as she filled a roughly 90-minute set at the legendary Bay Area venue with one great tune after another. She devoted a little more than half the evening to her sole majorlabel album, “Reckless,” which stands as one of the most impressive debuts — from any music genre — in recent years.
She showcased her tremendous vocal work, using her throaty voice to convincingly convey an array of emotions as she opened the show with “Don't Cry” and continued on through such winners as “Last Cigarette” and the title track to “Reckless.”
Her songwriting stood tall through it all, especially when she turned to such topics as regret and remorse.
For someone who hasn't hit 30 yet, Wade comes across like an “old soul” — in all the best ways — as she offers up well-earned perspectives and hardscrabble lines that address addiction, mental health and, most convincingly, the relationship between love and loss.
Few artists can convey a sense of uneasy longing as well as Morgan Wade does in a song like “Take Me Away.”
“Lay me down on the floor in your kitchen, show my angry heart what I've been missing, baby, take me away,” she sang. “I'm so tired of being alone. Won't you rest my angry bones? Baby, take me away. I wanna feel something. Take me away.”
The hole in Wade's game, at least in comparison to the lofty heights reached with her vocal work and songwriting, is that she's certainly not the most captivating performer at this stage of her career. She didn't do a lot extra to engage the crowd or sell the songs at the Fillmore, putting very little energy into her delivery as she basically just slowly walked about the stage for most of the show. She'd warm up a bit as the night went on, and eventually talk to the Fillmore crowd for the first time after performing eight songs.
Yet she'll likely need to get better in this regard if she wants to move from country music rising star to country music superstar, especially since so many artists in the genre excel in this area. (On the other hand, very few artists — particularly the ones played on mainstream country radio — excel in songwriting and singing the way Wade does.)
The Floyd, Virginia, native and her top-notch fourpiece band remained on a steady pace as they continued to mine “Reckless” — both the 10-track original offering as well as the 2022 expanded edition that includes six additional cuts — but also took time to play an incredibly fun two-inone cover song, blending together the Outfield's amazing “Your Love” with Rick Springfield's well-known “Jessie's Girl.”
Wade would save her best for the closing part of the show, delivering a haunting version of the lonely, lovesick “Met You” that pretty much left the crowd breathless.
“Sit here tonight, alone with my thoughts, alone with my sins. And the things that I've bought,” she sang with mesmerizing clarity. “I told you I loved you the night that we met. I felt it back then. And it ain't left me yet.”
It was the type of wow moment that made everyone in the house realize that he was watching a truly special artist. It should be incredible to see where she goes from here.