Morgan Wade

When Arista Nashville breakout artist Morgan Wade made her first full-length album Reckless , it was a fistful of songs torn from the life of a girl not afraid of pushing life to the edge. Bold and startling, the guitars pushed forward and her voice – equal parts husky knowing, brassy want and innocence – signaled a deeper connection to the faltering places, desires torn open and the willingness to wrap mental health, drinking and its fall-out, even drugs into her unfaltering merge of Tom Petty-esque lean rock, classic country acoustic guitars, a beat that means business and sweeping melodies that pull listeners into the songs.

When the dust settled on 2021, Reckless topped Rolling Stone Country’s 25 Best Country and Americana Albums list. But it resonated across critical, commercial and country press as it sat at No. 4 on 10 Best Country Albums lists from both cutting-edge all-genre site Stereogum and Taste of Country, No. 5 at Billboard, and No. 13 on Rolling Stone’s all-genre Top 50 Albums, the outlet proclaiming, “Wade is so deft at conjuring the head-over-heels feeling of plunging into a relationship and the subsequent heartbreak that she sometimes seems to be pinpointing the exact moment where one blurs into the other.” The Tennessean, Wide Open Country, Boston Globe and more celebrated the 10-song collection as one of the year’s best offerings.