Maren Morris details new album ‘Humble Quest’ track by track

The lead single off the album, this is a song that speaks loudly to Morris and set the tone for the entire album. Helping her breathe in a sigh of relief knowing she could still create good music in the midst of the pandemic, Maren had no hesitation making this the lead single. “I felt it in my bones that it was going to be the first single,” she said. “We wanted to kick this year off with something fun, so that’s what we did.”

After writing this song in Hawaii, it wasn’t until she returned home and listened to it back that the full impact of this tune hit Maren. “It was sort of sneaky,” she shared. “We wrote it and I loved it, and then discovered it again a few weeks after we got back from Hawaii…. I was like ‘Holy, s***, this is really good, I love this! This is really making me emotional.’”

With the idea for this song coming from husband, Ryan Hurd, Maren knew it was one she was going to be impressed by. Describing it as “quirky, realistic and romantic,” Maren was all in. “I was hooked,” she said after talking about Hurd sharing the idea with her for the first time. “I loved it, it reminded me of like, the John Prine, ‘In Spite Of Ourselves’ duet… It’s one of my favorites.”

A title that came to her while she was driving, it’s one she’s had to explain a little bit, but in the end it simply means finding her balance. “Especially as a woman in Country music, it feels like that kind of, push-pull of wanting to remain close to your roots and grounded from where you came from, but also knowing that it is absolutely OK and healthy to be like, ‘You know what? I got this, I’m good at this! This is what I do, I’m confident in this.’”

Originally an idea to write about being so in love everything else is just background music, Maren says the title took on more of a mature meaning once she brought it to the writing room. “It just grew into something much more mature and evergreen… It’s kind of a song about mortality… and knowing that some day, I think it would be amazing if people still heard my songs after I was gone and songs that I’ve written with someone that I loved.”

Admitting she let herself take off her vocal training wheels and belt this tune while recording, it’s one Maren says she is excited to sing live. All about those butterflies another person can make you feel, this song shows off the sensual side of Maren’s songwriting. “It felt like, ‘OK, let’s lean into this really sensual, empowering vibe of being like, you make me nervous but how am I going to describe all of the imagery laden ways you do this?’”

Maren couldn’t help but state the obvious with this song as she tributes her husband who is over a foot taller than her. Very aware she’s living in a world where everyone is taller than her, Maren turned her experience standing at 5’1” into a song. “I’m 5’1”, my husband is like, 6’3” everyone is taller than me, literally,” she laughed. “I just wanted to write a song that was like, a love song, but also just showing my appreciation for the population that is taller for me, which is everybody. I like that we kind of end the chorus with like, ‘Hey, I love all types, but there’s something about tall guys.’”

A song she wrote while working in Sheryl Crow’s studio, Maren shares, “Detour,” shows her Country roots. “It kind of felt like an old throwback to one of those Lee Ann Womack records I grew up listening to. I think it’s probably one of the most Country songs on the record… we do some steel [guitar] on there and slide [guitar]. It’s just a really beautiful song.”

An extra special song on the album, “Hummingbird” was written the day Maren found out she was pregnant with her son, Hayes. After seeing hummingbirds around her writing session and connecting them to several things in her life, including a little “hummingbird heartbeat” growing inside of her, the concept spoke to Maren and she dove in, head-first with co-writers. “It was almost like this lullaby that we got to write to my son before I ever met him,” she said. “And then by the time we were recording, ‘Hummingbird,’ Hayes was over a year old.” The song even features a vocal appearance by Hayes saying “Mama.”

“Good Friends,” is the product of Maren’s one and only Zoom writing session during the pandemic. While she was not a fan of writing digitally, she shared she's glad she stuck with it for this track as it allowed her to tribute her closest friends and have a song about good friendships — a topic she doesn’t feel is talked about enough. “I was like, ‘I don’t think I’ve written a song about about friendship. That’s such a huge part of our life and I wish there were more songs about it,’ so I decided to write this one.”

Maren shares this song was written for her late producer, Busbee, while he was still fighting for his life against glioblastoma in 2019. “It was kind of our attempt at keeping his spark alive and he sadly passed away shortly after, but… I wanted to end this record with dedication to him. Even though he’s not with us anymore and he’s not on this album as a creator, he did help create a sound with me in the beginning. I feel like he’s still with me.”