In case anyone’s concerned about the question posed by the title of Megan Moroney’s latest album, Am I OK?, the “Tennessee Orange” singer helpfully appended an answer to the deluxe version, Am I OK? (I’ll Be Fine). Following full-length debut Lucky, the sophomore release is Moroney’s second album to crack the Billboard Country Top 10, so “OK” is probably an understatement.
“Wry, vulnerable and a real reflection of how 20-somethings drink and wreck their hearts, Moroney’s songs are authentic in a way the Music Row system can rarely access,” said noted country authenticity authority The New York Times.
Country Central, meanwhile, said Am I OK? expands on Moroney’s “emo cowgirl persona” to show an “edgier and more confident side.”
Moroney’s blue-tinted Am I OK? tour stops in Oklahoma City at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at The Criterion, 500 E. Sheridan Ave. We had a quick chat with Moroney about following up her early success and “You Had to Be There,” her new single with Kenny Chesney.
Does having a lot of success pretty early in your career change how you approach things? How was working on your debut EP, Pistol Made of Roses, different from working on Am I Okay? as far as the expectations you have for yourself or the pressure on you as an artist?
Yeah. I mean, I definitely think at the time of Pistol Made of Roses, there was essentially no pressure because I was still really trying to build my fan base and just make new fans, whereas now there’s a lot more eyes on me. But I think that something that I always do in the creative process is not think about any of that stuff or the pressures because I remind myself that the reason that people like my songwriting and like my music is because it came from just a place of honesty. Like, I wasn’t worried about what other people were gonna think; I was just writing about my life and being honest with how I perceived situations that have happened to me. So I guess there’s technically more of a pressure during Am I Okay? I kind of just ignored all of that because I think if you get wrapped up in that, it can be a lot more difficult and it can definitely negatively affect you.
Some of your experiences now are not as easily relatable to people, I would imagine, as far as performing on the stages that you’ve done and the success you’ve had. Is that something you have to work at now to try to keep being relatable to your fan base and the new listeners?
I get to do a lot of cool things now, and becoming friends with Kenny Chesney, I guess, is not normal. With my other friends and my outside life, outside of being Megan Moroney the artist, I feel very normal, still. I still have pretty bad taste in men. I go and do normal things with my friends from before I even started doing this music stuff. So, yeah, I think that’s not really an issue because even though I am onstage and doing cool things, I still feel very grounded with who I was before this happened.
Speaking of some cool opportunities and Kenny Chesney, you have a new single together and you’ve toured with him. Have you learned anything from him?
Kenny is such a great mentor to have, and he’s just done it for so long and literally knows every angle of the business. I really appreciate how he makes sure that he gets everything right, even if it takes more time or more money or whatever it is. He always does it the right way, which I appreciate. And something I learned from him on tour was just, you know, I watched him every single night from the side stage, just trying to pick up on how he captivates an entire stadium. If you go to another stadium tour, it doesn’t matter which genre, there’s usually a bit of production, like with pyro and there’s people flying through the air and things like that. And Kenny has very minimal production because his songs were that good. And so I think what I learned from him, you know, is that if you put out quality song after quality song, then you don’t need all the other bells and whistles. And it just kind of shows how good of an artist he truly is. It’s not, like, masked by other things. Not to say I would never have that kind of production. You know what I mean? But it’s just, like, really cool to see just him and a guitar get a whole stadium of people singing every word. And then he plays for two hours and can’t even play all the hits.
Do you think he’s taken anything away from working with you? Do you think he’s learned anything from you?
I think he probably has. I’ve been trying to get him out of his shell on social media. So I think that might be the only thing that I know a little bit more about than he does. But yeah, it’s just been fun. I’d have to ask him that, but he’s just so encouraging to me, which I appreciate.
What is your experience with Oklahoma?
Well, I’ve toured there a bunch. I feel like even back in 2022, when I opened for Chase Matthew, like solo acoustic, I think the first date of that tour that I was on was in Oklahoma City. But I was just there with Alan Jackson earlier this year. So yeah, I feel like I think we came there with Brooks and Dunn, too. Like, I played in Oklahoma a bunch. So it’s always a good time there, and I’m excited to bring the Am I Okay? tour there, and we’ll definitely have Oklahoma looking very blue.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.