Strong country up-and-comer Morgan Wade, who swings by the Lobero Theatre on Saturday (March 25), sounds like someone who’s been around some. Her magnetic, rough-edged voice can sound a bit road-toughened and life-weathered as she sings about “Wilder Days,” the instantly infectious hit from her 2021 album Reckless, a hit which has bumped her up into the up-and-coming quarters of the Country scene.
Wade, who has soared out of her hometown of Floyd, Virginia, boasts a bio trajectory including her own wilder days, a coming clean/going sober chapter (check out her confessional song “The Night”), and all the makings of a country singer’s redemptive narrative. Did we mention that she’s all of 28? Kids these days. Or is it certain Southern kids these days?
As a compelling singer and songwriter with a finger on a collective emotional pulse, Wade has struck a chord with fellow twenty-somethings, and fans and critics of all ages. Her musical saga began in college as an escape after a breakup, leading to her first album, Puppets with My Heart (credited to her backup band, The Stepbrothers). The advocacy of Sadler Vaden, guitarist for Jason Isbell’s The 400 Unit, helped earn Wade her proper respect and a proper showcase with her album Reckless for the respected label Thirty Tigers.