Only three albums into his career, Morgan Wallen has staked a claim as one of the most successful country artists of his generation. One of the aspects of that rise that stands out is Wallen’s willingness to collaborate with other artists. Just performing with other artists doesn’t necessarily make him unique, as the country genre has always encouraged collaborations. What sets Wallen apart has been his tendency to go well outside the boundaries of country to collaborate with artists known for other styles of music, such as hip hop and dancehall. Here are the five Wallen collabs that have created the most artistic and commercial sparks.
Videos by American Songwriter
1. “Up Down” (feat. Florida Georgia Line)
It says something about Wallen’s willingness to share the spotlight that he turned the second single of his career into a posse track with Florida Georgia Line. Considering that “Up Down” is a classic Friday night party track, it made sense that he would reach out to FGL, who were pretty much kings of that style of music at the time. After singing the first verse himself, Wallen turns the next verse over to Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. The title refers to the way that the weekend’s plans all seem to encompass something bobbing up and down, from a fishing line in the water, through the bottles of alcohol being tossed back, all the way to the heads rocking to some Lynyrd Skynyrd.
2. “Only Thing That’s Gone” (feat. Chris Stapleton)
Wallen had a hand in writing this song, which appears on Dangerous: The Double Album from 2021. Considering the combination of confessional lyrics and raw country rock instrumentation, the song seemed to be right up the alley of Chris Stapleton, who’s been able to straddle the line between traditional and alt-country well so far in his career.
“Only Thing That’s Gone” is an excellent entry into the tear-in-your beer canon, as the narrator finds himself commiserating with the local bartender about what he’s lost. Wallen and Stapleton come up with an impressive vocal blend, and it’s a fascinating meeting between two men whose careers have been similarly ascendant in a relatively short period of time. It was good to hear them both sinking their teeth into a ballad, instead of going the obvious route of an up-tempo raver.
3. “Man Made a Bar” (feat. Eric Church)
If you thought Dangerous was chock-full of material, Wallen saw you and raised you with One Thing at a Time, a 36-song behemoth. And it continued Wallen’s tendency to collaborate, as rising artists ERNEST and HARDY can be found on the record doing duets.
But in terms of established country superstars, Eric Church’s appearance is the one that really stands out on the album. Interestingly enough, Wallen, as he did with Stapleton, brought Church aboard for a weeper set in a barroom. The gist of this song is that the bartender can relate to the poor sap who walks in, because he opened the bar in the first place to get over his own lost love. Hence, even though it took heavenly inspiration to create the world and the creatures in it, only a heartbroken human could have come up with the idea of a watering hole.
4. “Heartless” (with Diplo)
Ace producer Diplo decided to dip into country for his multi-genre album Chapter 1: Snake Oil in 2019, and Wallen was on his short list of potential collaborators. The finished product ends up settling somewhere between electronica and country and comes out sounding like a sharp modern pop song. (That may be why it snuck into the Top 40 upon its release.)
[RELATED: 7 Songs You Didn’t Know Diplo Wrote for Other Artists]
The moody beats leave plenty of room for Wallen, who is also one of the song’s credited writers, to emote about an unsympathetic girl. Wallen’s narrator bemoans the fact that she has him on a string and isn’t afraid to tug that string in all kinds of uncomfortable directions. There’s also some self-criticism in there as well, because this guy keeps falling for what he considers nonsense, even when he knows it’s coming.
5. “Broadway Girls” (with Lil Durk)
Those who might have thought that a collaboration between Lil Durk and Wallen would be an odd fit hadn’t been listening close enough to the hip-hop tendencies that Wallen occasionally slips into his solo stuff.
Still, it’s fair to say that not many expected this musical hookup to come out sounding so seamless. Note the way Wallen fast-talks the lyrics in his verse, which makes it less of a jolt when Durk’s hyper-speed flow takes over in the second verse. The hook in the chorus is a grabber every time it comes back around. Put it all together and “Broadway Girls” hit the Top 20 when released in 2021, and opened the door for another Wallen-Durk collaboration by way of “Stand by Me” in 2023.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
