Spotlight On: MAREN MORRIS
ABOUT THIS WEEK’S SHERO IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
It’s well known that country music, and country radio in particular, has work to do when it comes to inclusivity and diversity, and while there are no shortage of country artists and songwriters that are women, it has been a mostly white male dominated space. Thankfully, there is some progress being made, and a few artists in particular who are at the forefront of that change. Our guest this week is currently one of the biggest stars in country, and uses her platform to uplift others, and strengthen the sisterhood of country music. Arlington, Texas native Maren Morris got her start in her teens, inspired by so many of those women in country music who came before her: Lee Ann Womack, Dolly Parton, and Leann Rimes. She got her first guitar at 11, within a year had written her first song, and almost immediately began bringing her talents to the stage, performing on the weekends. At 22 Maren decided to take her dreams to Nashville, thinking she wanted to work on Music Row as a songwriter, but in less than a year she realized that her true calling was as an artist. Turns out, that intuition was right. She released her first single independently; it immediately went viral on Spotify, and she was signed by Columbia Records. Her debut Hero came out in 2016, Girl in 2019, and she just put out her third album, Humble Guest. She also teamed up with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires as The Highwomen in 2019, and released their self-titled debut. Maren has been GRAMMY nominated every year since 2017, racking up thirteen nominations and one win thus far. She also has five ACM Awards, one AMA Award and five CMA Awards to her name. I am thrilled to feature Maren Morris as this week’s SHERO in the Spotlight.
Our playlist includes new music from Arlo Parks, and Fana Hues plus one called “Mistakes” from Sharon Van Etten’s recent album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong released earlier this month.
SHERO BIRTHDAYS: We celebrate the birthdays of SHEROES Patti LaBelle on 5/24, and both Lauryn Hill and Stevie Nicks on 5/26!
This week’s Radio SHERO: Kari Hedlund of KAXE/KBXE joins us as this week’s Radio SHERO; her guest DJ pick is Ibeyi’s “Made of Gold” featuring Pa Salieu.