Show Notes
UA student Myles Morgan reflects on his career thus far ahead of his October 9, 2026 headlining show at Two Dimes on the Strip. Find Myles on Instagram: @mylesmorgan_music
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: This is Cali with wvua. We're interviewing Miles Morgan today. Playing tomorrow at Two Dimes. So, Miles, what's up? Yes. So, Tuscaloosa, we once had an incredibly vibrant music scene. Don't know if you know any of the history about that, but how does it feel to be a student in a west Alabama local and to be part of, like, this big resurgence for.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Feels so awesome.
I've been an Alabama boy my whole life. I was born in Birmingham, and my dad went to Alabama. My grandmother went to Alabama. So I definitely got Bama roots in me and been nothing but a Bama fan my whole life. So being able to come back and play a show here after being a college student here, well, I guess still being a college student here, it just means the world. It's so awesome.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: I had. I'd read some stuff about you before this, and I saw you're a junior here at ua, so. Studying business, right?
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Yes, I'm actually a senior now, but, yes, I did my freshman and sophomore year in person, and then I moved up to Nashville halfway through my sophomore year and started taking online classes. And now I'm coming back to Tuscaloosa to play a headline show. So we got to come back last fall, I think, and open for Blake Shelton at the amphitheater, but now we get to go back and play it two times. So I'm really excited about that.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I'd seen that. So that's incredibly impressive. You've got a stacked resume pretty early on, doing better than most.
So how does it feel, you know, that you can add opening for Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert and all of these other really big names to your list of accomplishments so early on in your career?
[00:01:51] Speaker B: I'm just really, really fortunate. Really, really blessed.
I wouldn't be doing it without God unless he was putting me in these positions. So it feels awesome, but I'm just trying to, you know, not take advantage of it and. Or take it for granted and realize how awesome it is and hopefully keep it going.
I think this is going to be an awesome show tomorrow, and if you haven't seen me yet, I think it'd be a great time to come. Not you personally, but anybody else with you.
Uh, I think it'd be a great show to come see for your first one, so I think. I think it'll be awesome.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I. I think people should be getting really excited. I've seen all of the marketing. You guys are really pushing this one out, so it looks exciting.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it's gonna be a good time.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah, you've got time. More opening for you. How does it feel to have another, you know, Tuscaloosa artist here? I've worked with him a little bit,
[00:02:42] Speaker B: so, yes, that is so cool to me, because Ty is actually a childhood buddy of mine, and Ty is one of the people who started helping me learn how to play guitar in the first place in high school.
When I picked up a guitar in high school for the first time my senior year, he would come over to the house and show me how to play a couple chords back when I didn't know anything.
So I've been buddies with Ty for a super long time. I played baseball with him growing up.
And we've also got Allie Leanne opening, and she's another Bama girl, and she's. She's played a lot of shows with me at this point. She's a phenomenal musician, so I'm super excited to have her on too.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's. That's super exciting. You've got just a full lineup of Bama kids here.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: I mean, and with you being a student and everything, how do you just find that balance between, you know, being in school and touring? I know it's definitely not the typical college experience.
So is there anything that you're doing to kind of keep yourself motivated when you're on the road?
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Yeah, you just gotta figure out how to manage your time. Because. Because class is definitely tough to keep up with. But anytime you get a free moment after a show, you're back on the bus or something, you know, gotta pull the computer out and check blackboard. It never ends.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: You've got that 11:59 deadline, no matter what.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Exactly. You gotta hit it. So, yeah, we, you know, some assignments not able to hit that 11:59 deadline, but we're doing pretty good, so we're making it happen. And you just gotta figure out the right moments to do stuff when you can. But it's fun. It's definitely a tough balance, but it's a lot of fun to be able to do what I'm doing in my career and also still be a student, Especially when I get to come back to Tuscaloosa on weekends like this.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Is there, I mean, any other favorite venues you've got? I know you're from Birmingham. There's some really great places out there. So have you got any kind of on the top of your list that you're either wanting to play or that you have played?
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yes, I would say wanting to Play. I would love to play the new amphitheater in Birmingham. Coca Cola.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Oh, yes. It's beautiful. Yeah.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: A dream show of mine for sure.
And I got to play Iron City. Last year we sold out Iron City, and I believe we're going to be playing Iron City again, hopefully this coming year.
And so Iron City's up there. I love Galette. Galets is just a staple of Tuscaloosa. I got to play there a bunch when I was cutting my teeth in Tuscaloosa my freshman year. And then I also came and played a show last year at Galette that was awesome. And I mean, just shout out to all these bars that helped me get to where I'm at today. Like, all those shows mean a whole lot, and there's a lot of great musicians playing in those bars around everywhere right now. So I think all these Alabama places hold a lot of. Hold a lot of history, like you were saying. And they're great for people like me trying to come up.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've seen some great shows as a student here.
I'm a concert photographer myself, so I've seen some really good shows out in Birmingham. So it's really awesome kind of seeing that new emerging talent. Is there anybody that you've kind of had your eye on that's on the come up that's, you know, local as well?
[00:06:10] Speaker B: I mean, I would say keep an eye on Todd Moore and Allie, for sure. They.
They're doing some awesome stuff. And Allie's up there in Nashville with me. Tides about to be up there in Nashville with me, so they're doing some great stuff. I know Jackson Chase is another Tuscaloosa musician who's doing some awesome stuff. I would. I would throw his name in there, too. And there's. There's a lot more right now, obviously, that I can't think of.
Everybody. Everybody's killing it, but I would say those are the top two off my head.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So, I mean, you had a really heavy hitting start. You were just kind of thrown into it. Your debut single got over 5 million streams, like, super impressive. What do you think changed the most drastically when that happened? Yeah, of course.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: I mean, I would say things just got busier. We started playing shows and we started having more things to go to and do and started having to figure out when I was going to work that assignment in to hit that 1159 deadline. So it's just a little bit busier, but it's all the same, really.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm sure that was a really fun conversation with professors, telling them, you know, you'd be out on the road touring instead of making class on a Tuesday.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Exactly. Yes. I've had a couple of those conversations. It's never easy.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Is there anybody here on campus that's been like a. A standout kind of help to you that kind of pushed you in the direction that you're going?
[00:07:36] Speaker B: I would say every. Every place that I've played at, just the people who are. Who are around, like, the people, obviously, who go to the places and support me, all the fans and all the people who have built me up and just wish me well throughout the years, but also the venues themselves have shown me a lot of love and helped me out a whole lot.
So, I mean, just. There's a lot of good energy in Tuscaloosa coming from the people, and that definitely does not go unnoticed. Those people are helping me a lot.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think college town, this is. This is the best it gets as far as crowds go.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Mm.
I mean, 100%.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And you're here for a pretty big game weekend for Georgia, so are you staying for the game? I know the tsunami's worth of rain that's coming with that.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: I am definitely staying for the game, and I'm so excited because we get to have a big show weekend and also a big. Pretty much vacation weekend, too, because Georgia game, in my mind, is the biggest, if not one of the biggest games of the year.
So I'm super pumped to just be able to be a college student again for the rest of this weekend and watch the game and hang out with my friends and. And just have a good time.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And you've got some history with Bryant Denny Stadium as far as music goes, don't you? Didn't you write a song about that?
[00:08:59] Speaker B: Yes, as a matter of fact, that's true.
I mean, Tuscaloosa and being a student in college inspires a lot of my music, and whether that's, like, you know, relationships or experiences I've gone through. And the one you're talking about, my third single is called Is this He Taken? About a girl I met in the stands at Bryant Denny. So, I mean, you can find inspiration in anything, and Tuscaloosa is definitely one of those things for me. Yeah.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Truly, I can't say that I would have come up with that idea myself. I mean, writing about the football stadium, that's a new one.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Well, that one wrote itself. That one was 100% a true story. So. Yeah, write that one from memory yeah, absolutely.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: How do you find inspiration for your other songs that aren't so easy to just kind of, you know, roll off the mind?
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Some songs are written super fast and some are written super slow. And, you know, you might. You might have a really good idea that takes forever to write. And you might go in a room one day with no ideas, and in 15 minutes you've just come up with some crazy song and all of a sudden you take a look at it. It's like, dang, this isn't half bad. So you never know what you're gonna get when you go in a room one day and start writing. But I don't think you should force it ever. Like, I think whatever the vibe is that day and whatever you're wanting to write about, like, it's fine if you don't have anything to write about that day. So I think it's just whatever happens, happens in the room that day.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Do you kind of have any artists that you take inspiration from, maybe like, music wise or lyrically?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yes, for sure. I love Southern rock music. I grew up listening to, like, Leonard Skynyrd and stuff like that, and obviously the prime era of bro country. I love the Jason Aldean and the Florida Georgia Line and Morgan Wallen and all that stuff. I'm a big Riley Green fan because he's another Bama boy. Been listening to him for a while, and I know Ella's killing it right now. She's another Alabama artist that I've been listening to for a while. She's great. And also a big Post Malone fan. I've been listening to Post Malone for a long time.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: That's. That's an interesting one.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Post, he might be my favorite artist. He's awesome.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: So, I mean, I know you just played Rock the South. How was that? I mean, that's in my hometown. So very well connected out there.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: So cool.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Yes.
Rock the south was awesome. I've been going to Rock the South just as a fan for a long time now. Like, I remember in high school going to that festival before I even owned a guitar, before I knew how to play, before I had any idea in the world that I was going to be doing music. And we got to go play in front of a whole lot of people this weekend at Rock to South. It was so awesome seeing how many faces were at the crowd and just the experience of being able to do something like. Like that. That's such a hometown thing. That was special for me.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially coming as, like, A fan. Like you said when you started, it's got to feel like a fever drive.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: Oh, 100%. It was. That was one of the most fun shows I've ever played.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Did you ever imagine yourself when you started? Where did you kind of, you know, see yourself going with it? Did you think you would take off and be this big?
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Well, my freshman year, I was just trying to navigate Tuscaloosa and going to class and trying to get a band together, and it wasn't really as much of a thought of, like, what's the future gonna look like? How serious am I gonna take this thing? And then I would say, sophomore year, once I played my first show, my first headline show in Mobile, Alabama.
That's what kind of changed everything and changed my outlook on it. And after that, I was like, all right, I don't know where it's going to take me, but I'm not going to stop until it stops me. So we'll see how far it goes. But I think since sophomore year, I've been kind of head down and seeing where it takes me.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah. I mean, you just. You took off really quick and just jumped right into it. So is there anything that you kind of do to keep yourself grounded, keep the fame from going to your head?
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Well, I mean, it's not anything crazy yet. I feel like I'm still. I'm still a regular old guy. I'm still the same person I was. But I love coming back down to Tuscaloosa every chance I get, and just hanging out with all my friends and being a normal college kid again, like, it's. I try to do that as much as I possibly can, and that definitely helps. So I would say that's. That's the number one thing for me.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for a college student, you've. Like I said, you've got a pretty stacked resume. I mean, your LinkedIn is really something to compete with, so.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Yes. So, congratulations. I know the show tomorrow is going to be awesome, so I'm very excited to see how you guys play, how everything goes. I'm looking forward to it, so.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Well, thank you so much. And I'm. I'm very much looking forward to it myself. I've been looking forward to it for a really long time. We're adding a whole lot of stuff to this set, like, specifically for this show, so I can guarantee you that anybody who's thinking about coming, you will not regret it. It's going to be one of the most fun things you go to all year long.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: So can you drop any. Any hints on those, on those big things you're adding, or is that a secret until you play?
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Well, I'll say. We're playing a whole lot of originals and a whole lot of fun new covers that we never played before.
So it's going to be something for everybody there. For sure.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Yeah. It's going to be sick. I'm super stoked. So thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me. I know we didn't have a ton of time, so I just.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: I appreciate you taking it.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. Yes. It was great to talk to you. So safe travels. And I guess break a leg.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: All right. Thank you so much. Have a good one.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: Yeah, of course you do.
