Top 3 Finalist on Season 22 of The Voice & Special Guests Friday, June 21st, 7:00 P.M. Audiowild Studios, Idyllwild
BY ESTHER SANCHEZ
I can’t think of a more fantastic excuse to get out of the desert heat than to make the 45 minute excursion from the valley up Hwy 74 to everyone’s favorite, quirky, mountain town, Idyllwild. The good folks at Audiowild Studios are honored to host a unique, VIP experience showcasing the incredibly talented and intriguing singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and finalist from The Voice, Morgan Myles along with some special guests. What makes the experience VIP you may ask? That is due to the fact that the intimate venue is only selling 20 tickets to the private, acoustic performance that includes a meet & greet with Morgan.
As I was doing a bit of research on Ms. Myles in preparation for this article, I became increasingly more excited to have the opportunity to actually chat with the artist herself, one on one. It didn’t take long to discover that on her blind audition for The Voice, she got a rare, four chair turn around from all of the judges within seconds. With a flawless, angelic tone, a soulful style and mind blowing range; it’s no shocker that Myles’ voice captivated the judges and audience members alike almost immediately.
Although her stint on The Voice has definitely helped catapult her to fame on a National and International scale, when it comes to this music business thing, she is no spring chicken. On the contrary, Myles has been plugging away through countless ups and downs, triumphs and heartaches throughout a career that has taken up the better part of 2 decades. Throughout all of the trials and set-backs that brought her to her current status as a rising star in Country Music, Myles truly has stayed humble and grounded; even using her platform to become the National Ambassador for the Glioblastoma Foundation which brings awareness and funds research for the rare form of brain cancer that took the lives of both her cousin and grandfather.
Fresh off a dream-come-true performance at the Grand Ole Opry where she received an extremely rare standing ovation, Myles’ career is rapidly gaining momentum and she is beyond motivated to keep writing new music and perform shows as long as humanly possible. That being said, I wanted to ask Morgan if, seeing as how extremely refined and diverse her vocal abilities are, whether or not she has always leaned towards the Country Music genre or if she was, as a resident of and working musician in Nashville, guided in that direction.
Myles: “I have always been a soulful artist. One thing that Camila Cabello (her celebrity coach on The Voice) said is that I am a truth teller. I think that for me, music should come from your heart first and foremost. (Myles jests) I think genres have been annoying to me. I just love writing music from my heart and I know that hasn’t always blessed me in the past but that’s what I do. I’ve always been based in the blues. I was raised on Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Eva Cassidy and Carol King. As far as writing goes, I think that they are just timeless. I don’t care what genre, it’s just good.”
Myles continues: “Often they want to box you up and the thing is, I’m just not that. I just love writing from where it’s supposed to be from and I’m a versatile artist but it will always remain in that soulful, country, rock, storyteller Americana zone.”
The next thing I wanted to know seems pretty obvious if you have watched Myles’ blind audition or have ever just watched an episode of The Voice and understand the premise of the show. Seeing as how the results of her audition were literally the best-case scenario; had she prepared herself for the worst? Everytime I watch that show when a contestant is putting themselves out there in front of the world and nobody turns around, I die a little inside and I’m sure most people feel exactly the same.
Myles: “Yeah, I think every contestant felt that way. We had been cooped up for 3 ½ weeks by that point so everybody was just on pins and needles. There was covid still happening and we still had covid restrictions so you’re really in your head. The thing is that having 17 years of experience behind me before going on a platform like that…I knew how to connect with my soul first and foremost so I didn’t let the noise drown out the mission. “Hallelujah,” (my audition song) is so close to my heart. It’s my favorite song and will travel with me for the rest of my life and mean different things in different ways as life hits.”
Myles continues: “I know how to connect and what I have to do to make that happen. I truly connect to every word I sing and I look at a light and focus on that. The only thing I can control is delivering a genuine, authentic experience that I connect with my soul so other people can know that they can connect with me and I want them to believe me. I’ve been through something. Let’s go through this together. The fear there was having to make that happen in 90 seconds. That’s all the time we had so, beforehand I was just thinking of my family and the losses and the struggles we’ve been through and how if I could get to that place mentally in my head, quickly…then I would be good.”
One might wonder if being an artist who has had so many hurdles to overcome throughout their career who is somewhat suddenly cast into such a vast spotlight has ever dealt with feeling some sort of imposter’s syndrome which is something that most of us have experienced in one form or another. Like, “Do, I really belong here? Is this really what my calling is?”
Myles: “I would absolutely be lying if I said I never felt that way. You’re just going, ‘I’m in this for the right reasons, God gave me this gift, I’m really trying my best and I’ve sacrificed so much. Am I not supposed to be doing this?’ I’ve had bad, bad people try to continuously hurt me in the music industry and it’s been truly disgusting and I’ve asked myself why.” Then two weeks ago, I’m playing in Vermont and this girl drove down from Canada to tell me that listening to Therapy, my debut album which was released before The Voice, stopped her from committing suicide. You don’t even know how to react in those moments but I just broke down in tears and was like, ‘I’m so glad this music had that type of impact and you deserve to be here and you deserve to be loved and this is why I do what I do. Thank you for sharing that very, very vulnerable experience.’
That’s why we are here, you know? It’s just crazy. The power of music and what it can do for people”
If you can’t score tickets and make the trip up the mountain in person, you can get livestream info here:
Event tickets and info: https://audiowild.studio/event/5178685/645264977/vip-an-evening-with-morgan-myles-and-special-guests
Info on Glioblastoma Foundation: glioblastomafoundation.org
