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A few weeks ago, Big Loud Records artist\u00a0Morgan Wallen<\/strong>\u00a0celebrated his biggest hit yet with \u201cWhiskey Glasses,\u201d<\/strong> which spent three weeks at No. 1 on the country charts. The track follows Wallen\u2019s first chart-topper, \u201cUp Down,\u201d<\/strong> which featured Florida Georgia Line<\/strong> and went to No. 1 on both the\u00a0Billboard<\/em>\u00a0Country Airplay chart and Mediabase\/Country Aircheck<\/em>\u00a0chart.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the earlier songs I heard that were being pitched to me,\u201d Wallen tells\u00a0MusicRow<\/em>\u00a0of \u201cWhiskey Glasses,\u201d<\/strong> which was penned by\u00a0Ben Burgess<\/strong>\u00a0and \u201cAll About That Bass\u201d writer\u00a0Kevin Kadish<\/strong>. \u201cAs soon as I heard it, I thought it was unique and all the clever, double entendres. Also, just the feel and phrasing I thought was unique. The only thing we added in production was between the chorus and the \u2018Whiskey Glasses\u2019 line at the end, just a couple of little phrases to fill in the space there.\u201d<\/p>\n For Big Loud\u2019s\u00a0Seth England<\/strong>, the early radio response was a surefire indicator of the song\u2019s hit potential.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when you get a song that is a three-week No. 1, that happens when, as they say, a song could work itself,\u201d England tells\u00a0MusicRow<\/em>. \u201cThe research is through the roof in most markets so when you call the program director, sometimes they are almost cutting you off to tell you how well your song is researching. That was very much the case with \u2018Whiskey Glasses.\u2019 Many times they were calling us to tell us they were converting the song before we were calling them.\u201d<\/p>\n Along the way, Wallen notched another No. 1 hit, as a co-writer on Jason Aldean\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cYou Make It Easy\u201d in 2018.<\/p>\n Wallen\u2019s debut album for Big Loud Records,\u00a0If I Know Me<\/em><\/strong>, has been a mainstay in the Top 5 country albums chart\u2014topping off a wellspring of success for Wallen, who wasn\u2019t exactly looking to be an artist before he signed with the label in 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cKevin Neal<\/strong>\u00a0was the first person I met in Nashville, and I was still living in Knoxville at the time,\u201d Wallen said. \u201cHe told me to move to Nashville, and he sent a couple of songs I had written around town, and sent them to Seth. I was really just looking for co-writers, really wasn\u2019t looking for a record deal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll never forget the day he walked in the studio,\u201d recalls England. \u201cThey said they had a kid from Knoxville with a lot of raw talent. We love working with all types of artists, but nothing makes us happier than developing something brand new. Morgan came in, and he looked like a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd or something with long, mangled hair.<\/p>\n But when he started singing, Joey [Moi]<\/strong> and I just looked at each other like, \u2018What is this?\u2019 And his focus and goals were aligned with what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, Wallen is as well-known for his \u201cbusiness-in-the-front, party-in-the-back\u201d mullet as he is for notching a three-week No. 1.<\/p>\n \u201cNot everybody likes it. Everybody at my label was like \u2018No! We are not doing a mullet!\u2019 But I was like, \u2018Give it a chance. What could it hurt?\u2019\u201d Wallen says, noting he got the inspiration for the \u201890s throwback hairstyle after looking at old family photos. \u201cI [looked at] my parents\u2019 wedding photos and my dad had a mean mullet. My dad and I are very similar in looks and personality. If you put our pictures side by side of me at 26 and my dad at 26 it would be scary how we look alike. He had a perm in his. I don\u2019t have a perm in mine\u2014yet. It turned into this whole thing that I didn\u2019t really mean to happen. I think that makes me like it even better, because I wasn\u2019t doing it as a branding or business move. And it\u2019s a throwback to earlier country singers.\u201d<\/p>\n Underneath the striking mullet and sleeveless denim shirts is the heart of a songwriter, combined with the rawness of an artist who simply aspires to be himself, something that was evident when country radio received Wallen\u2019s debut single, \u201cThe Way I Talk.\u201d While the track only peaked in the 30s at country radio, it cemented the newcomer as a unique talent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you sit with Morgan, his accent is Tennessee thick and authentic. I couldn\u2019t stop picturing Morgan singing this song,\u201d England says. \u201cSo many people to this day tell us they feel like it was a hit that never was. But it made people aware of him and he followed it up with uniquely branded material.\u201d<\/p>\n Following in the wake of chart-toppers \u201cUp Down\u201d<\/strong> and \u201cWhiskey Glasses,\u201d<\/strong> Wallen\u2019s hoping to continue his hot streak with his latest single, \u201cChasin\u2019 You,\u201d which he co-wrote alongside\u00a0Craig Wiseman<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Jamie Moore<\/strong>. The track marks the first that Wallen co-wrote with legendary Nashville songwriter Wiseman, a creator behind songs such as Tim McGraw\u2019s \u201cLive Like You Were Dying\u201d and Brooks & Dunn\u2019s \u201cBelieve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a big day for me just writing with him,\u201d Wallen<\/strong> recalls. \u201cIt verified to me that I could hang, you know? It gave me more peace about moving to Nashville. He\u2019s been like a mentor and second father to me throughout the years. It\u2019s cool to see our relationship grow out of songwriting and to being friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Wallen found subtle ways to pay homage to his Tennessee roots throughout the track. \u201cThere are a lot of East Tennessee references like the Chattanooga freight. Not all of it is literal \u2026the Los Angeles part is just to signify they were gone, but the \u2018guitar town\u2019 line is obviously me, and where I ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n Wallen has tours lined up with Luke Combs<\/strong> and Florida Georgia Line<\/strong>. The FGL tour is special, given that Wallen toured with them in 2017, and is now revisiting some of the venues he previously played before being able to count the three-week No. 1 \u201cWhiskey Glasses\u201d among his credits.<\/p>\n \u201cI end my set with that now, and it\u2019s a great note to end on,\u201d he says. \u201cBack then, I had 15 minutes and I didn\u2019t have any hits. It\u2019s been a mind-blowing difference. Every show, the venue has been 90% full when I go out to play, and we are the first of three acts on the bill. That\u2019s special.\u201d<\/p>\n