With 'Humble Quest,' Maren Morris is closely following her compass

With 'Humble¹ Quest,' Maren Morris is closely following her compass

　　Transcript²

　　Maren Morris.

　　Harper Smith/Courtesy of the artist

　　These days, it's not too surprising when a country singer crosses over onto the pop charts – but a few years ago, one country singer went where few others had gone before. She scored a global electronic dance hit. That song, "The Middle," came from DJ Zedd, the EDM duo Grey and country singer Maren Morris.

　　The single introduced a lot of people to Morris's voice, but with her new album, Humble Quest, she wants fans of that song to get to know her. It is Maren Morris's first album since the pandemic – and its provocative³ title might need a little explaining.

　　Morning Edition's A Martínez spoke⁴ to Morris from her home in Nashville.

　　This interview has been edited and condensed. To hear the broadcast version of this conversation, you can use the audio player at the top of the page.

　　A Martínez, Morning Edition: So, Maren, you've got a provocative album title here, Humble Quest. So I think that might need some explaining. What is your humble quest with this album?

　　Maren Morris: I feel like the making of this album, not that I would classify it as a pandemic record, but it was certainly created during one ... I feel like I went through a ton of changes and deterioration⁵ and growth, and I had my son at the beginning of COVID. And so right after that, like, all touring got blown out for two years. It was sort of like me discovering this new part of myself as a mom – and at the same time losing a little bit of my identity as an artist, because I wasn't able to work.

　　And I also lost my friend and producer [Michael James Ryan] Busbee to cancer, who I did my two previous records with. There were a lot of things that changed for me before I was able to sit down and write this one.

　　You had that first child in March of 2020, right? You had your kid during a time when the world was very uncertain.

　　Yeah, it was scary – and especially this being my first kid, you're already just petrified⁶ and don't know what you're doing. It was bizarre. It was the same week when the hospital was starting to do, like, temperature checks and crack down on any guests being with you. I think we were the only people giving birth on the floor that night, and it was super eerie⁷.

　　But at the same time looking back on it now, it's been two years – my son's going to be two this week, which is crazy – it was such a precious time for my husband and I to share with our son because it was so quiet and there were no distractions⁸. And I think we'll always look back on this window of time with our son as such a gift because we got to be with him every single day.

　　Now, I know a lot of people probably come to know you through that huge dance hit that you had a few years ago, called "The Middle." Your new album, though, is not like that at all. And I don't want to call it a rejection⁹ of electronic music, but there really isn't a hint of that in this new album. Was building on the success of "The Middle" something you ever considered, maybe even a shift into electronic music?

　　No, I don't think so. When I put "The Middle" out with Zedd years ago, I was a country artist. And he jokes, like, he had never heard of me because he's an EDM DJ. I don't think country music is the first genre¹⁰ he's going to listen to. But you know, my voice just fit the song.

　　I always considered "The Middle" to be living in its own universe separate from my own solo work. It was always going to be its own thing – I was never going to try to follow "The Middle" with another giant pop song. It definitely had so many moments and firsts for me to be a part of a song that was that big, and it honestly led me to where I am today. Like, working with Greg Kurstin. I met him through Sarah Aarons, who's a writer on "The Middle," and we met when I did that song with Zedd. And so in a weird¹¹ way, this giant pop song led me to this album being created with Greg.

　　I never try to plan or force these giant song moves. I just always trust my gut¹²: "Hey, is the song great? Do you want to do it? Will it be fun?" Yeah. Say yes. And I've kind of done that all throughout my career. I've had a really fluid go of things because I've done "The Middle," I've been on Elton John's project, I've started The Highwomen [with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby and Amanda Shires], and then my song "The Bones," on my last record, was weirdly¹³ crossover from country to pop. I just think I'm always going to be a little different than the norm.

　　But you consider yourself a country artist still, right? Because I mean, I asked Google this question. I wrote right in the search bar: "What kind of genre is Maren Morris?"

　　What did it say? What answer came up?

　　Google said "country." You're a country artist according to Google. You're good with that?

　　I'm good with that. Yeah. I feel very safe here ... for me, all my favorite artists that I look up to have done all kinds of genres¹⁴ throughout their careers, like Willie Nelson doing an album with Ray Charles, Dolly Parton doing a huge duet pop song with Kenny Rogers. And I'm a huge Linda Ronstadt fan, who was always genre-bending. So even though I live in Nashville and I'm from Texas and I feel like my songwriting at its core is country, I think you can hear a lot of different influences when you've heard any of my records. So I'm fine with the title "Country Artist."

　　You're going to be hitting the road in June, 41 dates – most of them amphitheaters. I don't know if you know this, but you're Maren Morris, so I think you could probably sell out arenas¹⁵. So why mostly amphitheaters?

　　There's a couple of different reasons. I remember we were starting to plan this tour last summer, in the middle of a pandemic and trying to get touring back together. We had a few on hold, like I was supposed to be doing Madison Square Garden and American Airlines Center in Dallas. And I looked at my manager last summer and I was getting really anxious. I was like, "I don't think I'm ready to do those venues¹⁶ yet." On an artist level, I don't feel ready. Also, we're still in a pandemic. It feels weird to immediately be going into these huge rooms and we're still picking up the pieces of the last two years.

　　You wrote a letter accompanying this album, and in it you write how the pandemic humbled¹⁷ you. "Shooting off your mouth one too many times" humbled you. The death of a friend, motherhood and marriage all humbled you. Marin, what have you discovered about the word 'humble?' What does the word "humble" mean to you now?

　　I always thought that was such an interesting word, because it does mean that you're grounded and you don't have a big head about something – but I think that for me, over the last two years, that word has changed. I think it means you're the closest to your compass that you've ever been. It's not for public consumption of how relatable you are. It's: How in touch are you with yourself and your loved ones? Like, the people that know you the closest?

　　And so, yeah, I think taking that power back with that word is why I wrote the song "Humble Quest" – how it's going to be an ongoing¹⁸ conversation and journey and will probably never end. And I'm okay with that. We're all just awkwardly feeling our way through this weird world.

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

6 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

8 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

10 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

11 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

12 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

13 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

14 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

15 arenas   

表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场

参考例句：

• Demolition derbies are large-scale automobile rodeos that take place in big arenas. 撞车比赛指的是在很大的竞技场上举行的大型汽车驾驶技术表演。
• Are there areas of privacy in the most public of arenas? 在绝大部分公开的场合中存在需要保护隐私的领域吗？

16 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

17 humbled   

adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低

参考例句：

• The examination results humbled him. 考试成绩挫了他的傲气。
• I am sure millions of viewers were humbled by this story. 我相信数百万观众看了这个故事后都会感到自己的渺小。

18 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。