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“Don’t Tell Me You’re Wearing Tennessee Orange”: Megan Moroney Says Her Mom Was Very Concerned After Hearing Her First Hit
Mama knows best… Back in June of 2023, Megan Moroney scored her first #1 hit was “Tennessee Orange,” which she released in 2022 and first went viral on TikTok, ultimately helping secure her first record deal and launched her onto the path to becoming the country superstar she is now.
The song was co-written by Megan, Ben Williams, David Fanning and Paul Jenkins, she sings about falling for a guy who’s seemingly converted her into a Tennessee Volunteers fan, as she admits she’s now wearing “Tennessee Orange for him,” and even finds herself going to games at Neyland stadium.
On top of that, seeing as she’s a diehard Georgia Bulldogs fan, he has her committing the most egregious of sins that her daddy would never approve of, like “learning the words to ol ‘Rocky Top,’” and even forgetting that she’s “always looked better in red.”
Many speculated that the Volunteer fan she referenced and that inspired the song is Morgan Wallen, and coupled with that buzz, it became a massive hit, and Megan has obviously become one of the premiere mainstream country artists, playing sold out shows all over the country, and just last week, she scored her first ever #1 album on the Billboard Top 200 chart with her third studio album, Cloud 9.
During an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers last year, Megan talked about her inspiration for that song, saying she knew if her mom had seen her wearing that “gaudy orange” shirt she would have freaked, but it proved how much Megan really liked said “mystery man” the wrote it about:
“Yeah, so, when I moved to Nashville, one day, I found myself wearing a Volunteers shirt. And I remember lookin gin the mirror going, ‘My mom would absolutely kill me right now if she saw me in this gaudy orange.’ And so then I thought, that would make a really good love song, like, I like this dude enough to not wear Georgia red.”
She also revealed that she got “death threats” over that song from some angry college football fans:
“And yeah, I got death threats over that song.”
Honestly, I have no problem believing that, because rivalries run DEEP among SEC fans and football fans in the South in general, and Megan seemed to think it was funny, and seeing as she obviously knows what college football is like in the South, I’m sure she wasn’t all that surprised. Those fans are a different breed…
And during an interview with Southern Living this week, Megan explained that she will often send her mom work tapes of stuff she’s working on from her phone so she can hear it, and her mom will always give her honest feedback. So you can imagine when her daughter, who was raised a Georgia Bulldog and is an alumni of UGA (as are both of her parents, I believe), sent her “Tennessee Orange,” mama was NOT happy and hoped it wasn’t true:
“When I write songs, I send my mom a little work tape from my phone, and the first thing she says back is not ‘Oh, I like the song,’ or ‘I don’t really like it.’ She’s like, ‘Don’t tell me this is true… don’t tell me you’re wearing Tennessee orange.’ And I [said], ‘At least it’s not Florida orange!”
Not sure that helps to be honest, Meg… that’s like the eighth deadly sin down here. I couldn’t even dream of it, really, but Megan also told the magazine how proud she is to be a Georgia Bulldog, and she has made it her “whole personality,” though we’ll just have to look past her aforementioned hit…
“There’s a lot of pride there in being a Georgia Bulldog, so I kind of made it my whole personality. I loved going to school there. I met my best friends. It obviously changed the trajectory of my life going to school there so there’s a lot of pride.”
To close it out, Megan talked about what she loves about being a Southerner, and she says the spirit of people in the South always being “willing to help someone” and “not expect anything in return,” is what makes it so special:
“When I think of [being] Southern and how I was raised, I want to surround myself with people like that. Being kind is Southern to me, and always being willing to help someone and not expect anything in return, because you never know when you’re gonna need help.”
Now that I can agree with and get behind…
Megan just released her aforementioned album Cloud 9, and will hit the road on her subsequent tour in
“Tennessee Orange”
Cloud 9 Tour Dates:
29 | Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center
30 | Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge Fieldhouse
2 | Chicago, IL – United Center
3 | Chicago, IL – United Center – NEW
5 | Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
6 | Greensboro, NC – First Horizon Coliseum
8 | Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
9 | Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena – NEW
12 | Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
13 | St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
16 | Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
18 | Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
19 | Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
20 | Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
6 | Boston, MA – TD Garden – NEW
7 | Boston, MA – TD Garden
9 | Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
10 | Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
11 | Philadelphia, PA – Xfinity Mobile Arena
14 | Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center
16 | Orlando, FL – Kia Center
17 | Tampa, FL – Benchmark International Arena
18 | Sunrise, FL – Amerant Bank Arena
24 | Monticello, IA – Great Jones County Fair
25 | Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
26 | Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena
28 | Denver, CO – Ball Arena
1 | Portland, OR – Moda Center
2 | Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
5 | Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
7 | Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
8 | Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena – NEW
11 | Glendale, AZ – Desert Diamond Arena
14 | Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
15 | Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
16 | Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
18 | Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
21 | Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
22 | Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena – NEW
13 | Oslo, NO – Sentrum Scene
15 | Stockholm, SE – Annexet
18 | Cologne, DE – Carlswerk Victoria
19 | Tilburg, NL – 013 Poppodium
21 | Paris, FR – Le Trianon
23 | London, UK – Eventim Apollo
26 | Manchester, UK – O2 Apollo
27 | Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy
28 | Glasgow, UK – O2 Academy – NEW
1 | Belfast, UK – SSE ArenaThe post “Don’t Tell Me You’re Wearing Tennessee Orange”: Megan Moroney Says Her Mom Was Very Concerned After Hearing Her First Hit first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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