Debuts in Top 5 on Billboard Country Albums Chart
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – William Michael Morgan’s Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville release Vinyl is living up to the anticipation with an impressive Top 5 Billboard Country Albums chart debut. The breakout star receives high marks with Rolling Stone praising the album for “leading a traditional revival” and Saving Country Music notes that Morgan is the “traditionalist that mainstream needs…his touch can turn something to country gold.” NPR applauds Morgan for standing on “solidly traditional footing” while Taste of Country hears “a young George Strait in its straightforward earnestness.”
“I Met A Girl,” the first single release from Vinyl, was named a “Country Song of the Summer” by Billboard earlier this year and after 58 weeks at radio gave William Michael his first number one hit. The historic single spent 49 weeks on the Mediabase/Aircheck chart, boasting the longest chart run to No. 1 in its history. The mega-hit, co-written by Sam Hunt, along with Trevor Rosen (Old Dominion) and Shane McAnally, has racked up a staggering half billion plus in audience with more than 15 million streams, including 6 million views of its official video, and nearly a quarter million tracks sold.
Produced by award-winning Scott Hendricks and Jimmy Ritchey. Vinyl also features his next single “Missing” (Rhett Akins, Marv Green) a wandering-man’s anthem about gettin’ up, gettin’ out and unplugging for a while. Morgan has written with and drawn from many of Music City’s biggest present-day hit-making songwriters all the while taking inspiration from country music heroes like Keith Whitley, George Jones and his friend and mentor, ’90s honky-tonk king Mark Chesnutt. The captivating combination creates a neo-traditional sound that is all his own.
Morgan has come a long way since his days of playing the legendary “Louisiana Hayride” once a month and other various local bookings secured by his parents. The 23-year-old Vicksburg, MS native continues to hit the road throughout the fall, and will kick off 2017 by joining country music stars Lee Brice and Justin Moore on the “American Made” Tour. Morgan will start the trek January 12 in Indianapolis, IN and continue through March, playing 20 cities across the country.
For more information and tour dates, please visit www.williammichaelmorgan.com / follow William Michael Morgan on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram.