Morgan Wallen Never Listened to Country Music—Until He Discovered This Artist

More than a decade after his unsuccessful run on The Voice, Morgan Wallen is the most successful artist in country music by several metrics. The “Whiskey Glasses” hitmaker, 31, has collected almost enough one-billion streams Spotify plaques to outfit his four-wheeler. However, the genre that made him so successful didn’t always rank high on Wallen’s own playlists. Recently, the 2024 CMA Entertainer of the Year revealed which of his peers turned him on to country music. And honestly, we aren’t that surprised.

In May 2025, Morgan Wallen released his fourth studio album, I’m the Problem. The album has charted a similar path to his previous releases, topping the Billboard 200 for eight straight weeks. Its first six singles all made it to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and the latest, “20 Cigarettes,” is on its way, so far peaking at No. 8.

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Morgan Wallen Could Sing “Every Bit” Of This Artist’s Work

Now, Wallen is gearing up to drop a limited-edition I’m The Problem CD zine on Dec. 19. Available just in time for Christmas, the 100-page project includes interviews with the “Love Somebody” singer, a touching letter from his father, never-before-seen photos, and more.

In a preview on his website, Morgan Wallen delves into his early musical days. “I grew up in a very rural Southern Baptist church, singing gospel and bluegrass. When I was 5 years old, I asked for a violin for Christmas, and I’d play piano growing up, but I wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music when I was a kid,” he wrote.

Wallen got his first taste of non-Christian music when he bought a Breaking Benjamin CD. Still, he didn’t become a country music fan until discovering the work of Eric Church.

“What struck me most was how I could just picture all his lyrics,” Wallen wrote, adding, “I mean, I knew every bit of his first three records. I could sing them all.”

[RELATED: The Song Morgan Wallen Recorded “Strictly” for Eric Church on His New Album]

Of course, the two now share a close friendship. In fact, the “Sand In My Boots” singer has said he wrote the I’m the Problem track “Number 3 and Number 7” specifically for Church. That marked the second Wallen-Church collab, following 2023’s “Man Made a Bar.”

Of Wallen, the “Drink In My Hand” singer told Rolling Stone, “[The] shortest answer is, I would trust him with my kids.”

Featured image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for ABA