Morgan Wallen Slams Release Of His Earliest Songs By Former Managers: “I Cringe When I Listen To These”
![](https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2024/01/Morgan-Wallen-1706277353.jpg)
Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Country star Morgan Wallen is one of the most popular musicians on earth right now. Last year, his album One Thing At A Time set all kinds of chart benchmarks, and he finished out the year by singing with Post Malone and getting exploded in a Drake video. Naturally, anyone who ever did anything with Wallen is now trying to make money off of it, and Wallen is trying to stop that from happening.
In 2015, the same year that he came to national prominence as a contestant on The Voice, Wallen released an independent EP called Stand Alone. It has since gone gold, and Wallen now says that he’s been trying to prevent his old label from releasing an expanded anniversary edition of the EP, featuring unreleased songs that he considers to be “terrible.” As a way to combat that reissue, Wallen has just released a new version — a Morgan’s Version, if you will — if his early track “Spin You Around.”
On Instagram last night, Wallen wrote that he’s currently on a duck hunting trip but that he had to address this release of his old music: “For months I’ve been exploring every avenue possible to acquire the rights to this old music & keep the quality of my catalog consistent with songs I choose to release & believe in… I want you to know this is NOT my new music & I don’t want to see this happen to anyone else. I cringe when I listen to these songs & I’m concerned my fans may mistakenly believe this is a new release by me.”
Wallen says that he re-recorded “Spin You Around” in Nashville last week with his recent collaborators Joey Moi and Bryan Sutton and that he designed the cover art while on his duck hunting trip. He adds that he’s donating $100,000 from his foundation to the Volunteer Lawyers & Professionals For The Arts, in the hopes that aspiring musicians “know they should never have to give up their creative freedoms for an opportunity in this business.” Wallen also says that he’s “feeling inspired creatively” and that he’s going to start recording a new project next month, so there will presumably be more country blockbusters on the way soon. Here’s what he’s written:
In other Morgan Wallen news, he and fellow country star Eric Church recently announced that they’re buying the outdoor magazine Field & Stream. They’ll keep the print magazine going, and they’re also planning a music festival under that name.