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Morgan Wallen’s Father Confirms His Sobriety, Says It’s One Of The Things He’s Most Proud Of
A very proud dad, indeed… and not just because of Morgan Wallen’s ticket sales and streaming numbers. Actually, it has nothing to do with any of that.
Morgan has had an astronomical rise to fame, becoming one of the biggest acts in all of music, but he comes from humble beginnings, growing up the son of a pastor and a teacher in small town Sneedville, Tennessee, located in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, before moving to Knoxville during his high school years. Morgan’s dad, Tommy Wallen, has spoken about his very famous son publicly before, and in a letter that was included in Morgan’s limited-edition I’m The Problem CD zine last year, where he expressed his pride for his son, and how their family has been to some incredible places because of Morgan’s incredibly successful country music career, and he recalled Morgan’s record-breaking show at Hyde Park in London in 2024.
He said that everyone had left their private suite after the show, expect for him and Morgan, and before they headed out to the after party, Morgan started picking up trash and tidying up the space before leaving himself.
Morgan certainly gets a bad rap for some of his offstage antics, which in many ways is deserved, but you’d also be hard-pressed to find another star on his level that would pick up trash after everyone else at their own historic concert:
“I must have been on the road when I first heard Morgan on the radio. No matter where I drive today, it doesn’t take long before he pops up on a country station. With this fourth studio album on the books, Morgan has, by all means, made it. With that success, he’s taken me and our family to some amazing places.
Just this past year, we were at a concert in London, watching the show from a private suite. The room was full of people, and after the band played their last song, everybody filtered out, leaving Morgan and me in that big room alone.
Instead of joining the others and going to the party right away, Morgan took a moment, knelt down, and started picking up trash—and that made me smile. My son has become a man, far from the boy I used to hear strumming songs in our garage on my grandfather’s hand-me-down guitar, but he hasn’t lost his way.”
I have to imagine that small moment was one filled with incredible pride for Tommy, who as a parent, probably only hoped that Morgan would stay true to his roots and have that kind of character in spite of all of his insane success.
He continued, saying he’s proud of everything Morgan has overcome, though he also acknowledged that even the unimaginable success hasn’t solved all of life’s problems for Morgan, and he praised his son for admitting to himself, and the world, that he might be one of those problems:
“I’ve seen Morgan go through a lot since he was a kid. The first big problem I saw him face was an injury that dashed any hope of him playing college baseball. I watched him overcome that, only to have another dream put on hold after getting voted off ‘The Voice.’
I followed him to Nashville in a tiny U-Haul truck to drop him off for another try at that same dream—and you all probably know the rest. But along Morgan’s journey, I’ve also seen how success doesn’t get rid of all your problems, no matter how big that success is.
It takes a lot to admit that you might be one of those problems. I know because, at a tougher time in my life, I had to say the same thing to myself.”
Tommy is a pastor, and he says he’s learned through many years helping guide people that it’s a universal experience, no matter your tax bracket or anything else, to realize you hold the responsibility for the good and bad in your own life many times.
And we all know a lot about Morgan’s issues, though Tommy points out that he’s “proud” of Morgan’s problems, because they’ve shaped the man he is now both on and offstage:
“I’ve also seen a lot of people in that position, through my work as a pastor, at the moment they realize they may have ruined everything they’d worked so hard for. It’s what you do about those problems that really matters, though. I’m proud that Morgan has had problems in his life. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the man he is today. But I’m even more proud of what he’s done with them.”
Morgan’s parents have been very supportive of him over the years, and during a new episode of Morgan’s newly-launched SiriusXM radio station, his dad spoke during the “Family Tradition” segment,
“I’m Morgan’s dad, Tommy Wallen, bringing you Family Tradition on Morgan Wallen Radio on SiriusXM. Something that doesn’t relate to music or Morgan’s music that makes me really proud, again, there’s no question about this answer also – it’s his sobriety and the Dad he’s become.”
Morgan has never outright claimed to be completely sober, though he has mentioned things here and there that at least hinted at the fact that he had stepped back from going out to bars and partying until late at night. During an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast a little over a year ago, Morgan said he’d been trying to stay out of bars, which has been the “best thing” for him at this point in his life:
“It’s definitely the best thing for me, you know. If you’re using the bar as a specific example, that’s definitely the best thing for me. I ain’t been in a bar since the last time I was in a bar that everybody knows about. The most public time I was in a bar, that’s the last time I was in a bar.”
Of course, that statement was in no way Morgan claiming that he was completely sober, but according to his dad Tommy, that seems to be the case, at least right now, and if that’s true and Morgan did overcome a struggle with alcohol, or is giving it a break for however long he feels necessary, that’s great and something his dad, and Morgan himself, should be very proud of.
Morgan is also a dad to his young son Indie, and he’s talked about how that is the most important thing in his life and keeps him very grounded, and so it’s not surprising that Tommy has found so much joy in watching his own son be a dad.
Those two things sound simple on the surface, but they’ve seemingly drastically changed Morgan’s life, especially his son, and we all know his public missteps have been highly publicized, so I can only imagine what the journey has been like for his parents as the two people who love him more than anything to watch him struggle, even if a lot of it has been self-inflicted. It sounds like Morgan has grown a lot through it all and has gotten to a point in his life where he’s able to handle all of the fame and success in a much healthier way.
Morgan just kicked off his massive Still The Problem stadium tour last weekend, and it will roll into Tuscaloosa, Alabama this Saturday.
‘Still The Problem’ Tour Dates
April 18 || Tuscaloosa, Ala. || Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Vincent Mason, Zach John King
May 1 || Las Vegas, Nev. || Allegiant Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason
May 2 || Las Vegas, Nev. || Allegiant Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason
May 8 || Indianapolis, Ind. || Lucas Oil Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Hudson Westbrook, Zach John King
May 9 || Indianapolis, Ind. || Lucas Oil Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Flatland Cavalry, Zach John King
May 15 || Gainesville, Fla. || Ben Hill Griffin Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
May 16 || Gainesville, Fla. || Ben Hill Griffin Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
May 29 || Denver, Colo. || Empower Field at Mile High w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason
May 30 || Denver, Colo. || Empower Field at Mile High w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Vincent Mason
June 5 || Pittsburgh, Penn. || Acrisure Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 6 || Pittsburgh, Penn. || Acrisure Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 19 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 20 || Chicago, Ill. || Soldier Field w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Zach John King
June 26 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
June 27 || Clemson, SC. || Clemson Memorial Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
July 17 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Brooks & Dunn, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
July 18 || Baltimore, Md. || M&T Bank Stadium w/ Ella Langley, Gavin Adcock, Jason Scott & The High Heat
July 24 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ Thomas Rhett, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
July 25 || Ann Arbor, Mich. || Michigan Stadium w/ HARDY, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
July 31 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ Brooks & Dunn, Hudson Westbrook, Blake Whiten
August 1 || Philadelphia, Penn. || Lincoln Financial Field w/ Ella Langley, Hudson Westbrook, Blake WhitenThe post Morgan Wallen’s Father Confirms His Sobriety, Says It’s One Of The Things He’s Most Proud Of first appeared on Whiskey Riff.