Photo: Nick Swift
Morgan Evans “learned so many lessons,” while working on his album over a three-year time span.
Evans, 40, debuted Steel Town on Friday (March 20). Listeners hear the sound of a foghorn opening the album and welcoming them into the singer-songwriter’s hometown of Newcastle, Australia, and continues with personal nods to Evans’ life and home. That’s where he says the story of the record starts.
“It’s super long,” Evans said with a laugh of the three-year period, explaining that the project evolved after multiple points that it was nearly finished. “It was a very intentional choice of songs. …I chose the best songs that I thought chose the story that I feel like I’ve lived.” He said in a statement that the beginning of his story “starts with me going back to my hometown and reconnecting with my roots – where I came from and who I used to be … and who I still want to be. It felt like the sky was falling down and the walls were caving in, but when I got back home, it was such a good, grounding thing. I’m sure it is for everyone when they go back to their hometown.”
Evans said during a recent conversation with iHeartCountry that the Steel Town story started after he “went through a super public divorce here in Nashville,” and he gained new perspective after reconnecting with family and friends in Australia. “I went to the pub with some old mates and got a beer, and they looked at me and they’re like, ‘you alright?’ I was like, ‘yeah, I think I’m alright.’ …And we just got on with it, and it was just like this great perspective of, you know, when you‘re in the middle of something, it feels like the entire universe. And when you get out of it you can look at it for what it is, and that kind of perspective and grounding is when this record and the story start.” Evans said his creative process “felt really free,” as he chronicled his journey of newfound perspective, new love and more.
Steel Town Tracklist
- Steel Town (Morgan Evans, Ava Suppelsa, Sam Ellis)
- Beer Back Home (Morgan Evans, Cole Miracle, KK Johnson)
- Two Broken Hearts (feat. Laci Kaye Booth) (Morgan Evans, Fraser Churchill)
- Another Drink Coming (Morgan Evans, Matt Roy, Geoff Warburton, Daniel Ross)
- Back To Country (feat. William Barton) (Morgan Evans, William Barton)
- Land I Love (Morgan Evans, Lindsay Rimes, Danielle Blakey)
- Forgiving You For Me (Morgan Evans)
- Letting You Go (Morgan Evans, Lindsay Rimes)
- She Talks About Texas (Morgan Evans)
- The Farm (Morgan Evans, Jon Green, Scooter Carusoe)
- Settle It Down (Morgan Evans, Sam Ellis)
Evans selected 11 tracks that range from summer-worthy anthems and “old school bar room” bangers to heartfelt words of advice to his past self, a “pure, proper love song,” and leaving heartaches in the past. He teamed up with his girlfriend, fellow country star Laci Kaye Booth, on “Two Broken Hearts,” a ballad that was not initially a duet. But Evans told iHeartCountry that when he and Booth sand it together, “ it was just like “holy s***, we need to record exactly that.’ …It’s kind of weird that we didn’t think about it as a duet, because it has ‘two’ in the title, (and it) worked out perfectly.” Evans said often in music, “you’re just chasing the goosebumps,” and in a duet like “Two Broken Hearts” with Booth, “it really is magic.”
“I honestly love every song on this album,” Evans said. “I wrote a lot of songs during this time, and really intentionally chose these songs because I love them and they each do their own thing. I love a concise record. … ‘Letting You Go’ is one I’m kind of excited about. I feel like it maybe represents the whole album. It feels like a release of this period of my life, and that song feels like a release, too, and I really love that song. …I’m really, really excited to just share this music as it is and let it find its place in the world, and hopefully some people can let it into their lives.”
Evans is gearing up for his headlining “Steel Town Tour,” bringing his sophomore record to life on the road. He feels the album was “created to play live,” and looks ahead with eagerness to perform it for audiences around the world.
“I’ve learned so many lessons making this album,” Evans told iHeartCountry. “I think you do making every album, but like most great lessons in life, I don’t know that I would’ve understood it or listened if someone told me, so I just had to listen and I just had to learn it, rather. And to be here releasing this album in the place that I’m at in life right now, it feels good. It feels right. And so, to be in that position, it’s pretty hard to have any sort of regrets. So, no [I wouldn’t tell my past self anything], I’m really grateful for where it’s at. I’m really looking forward to making the next one, but I’m looking forward to going out and touring this one, as well.”
See Evans’ tour dates below, and watch the new “Steel Town” music video here:
MORGAN EVANS 2026 TOUR DATES
3/20: Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
4/11: Toowoomba, AUS – Meatstock Toowoomba 2026
4/18: Lardner, AUS – Meatstock Gippsland 2026
5/21: Perth, AUS – ICF Warehouse
5/23: Melbourne, AUS – Forum Melbourne
5/25: Adelaide, AUS – Thebarton Theatre
5/27: Sydney, AUS – Enmore Theatre
5/30: Brisbane, AUS – The Fortitude Music Hall
6/2: Auckland, NZ – Powerstation
6/4: Christchurch, NZ – Christchurch Town Hall