Five years ago, Maren Morris signed a record deal with Sony Music Nashville. Now, half a decade later, the country star is taking a moment to reflect on the last few years of her life.
"5 years ago I signed to @ColumbiaRecords after having a couple million streams on 'My Church' as an unsigned artist," Morris wrote on Twitter alongside a screenshot of a press release from 2015 which first announced the news. "Time has truly flown the f*** by."
After joining Columbia Nashville in 2015, the label re-released Morris' five-song EP, which featured "My Church" as the lead single. In 2016, Morris released her major label debut album, Hero, which earned her four Grammy Award nominations in 2017 including Best Country Album.
Morris' most recent album, Girl, was released in 2019. The project gave her two major No. 1 hits including the album's title track, "Girl" followed by "The Bones." Most recently, Morris shared two previously unreleased songs, "Just For Now" and "Takes Two."
Outside of her solo career, Morris also formed a group with Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby called The Highwomen. Just last week, the group celebrated the one year anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut album. To mark the occasion, Morris shared several photos on Instagram from different moments with her bandmates throughout the year.
"Happy first birthday to @thehighwomen album. One of my favorite records to be a part of," she captioned the series of photos. "I miss drinking too much wine and talking about music & babies with y’all. 🙌🏼✨"
For the upcoming ACM Awards, Morris leads among all nominees with five nods including Album of the Year for Girl, Female Artist of the Year and Musical Event of the Year for joining Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack and Elle King on "Fooled Around and Fell in Love." Her fifth nomination is Group of the Year as a member of the female super group, The Highwomen.
This year’s ACM Awards were rescheduled from the original Las Vegas date in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. The three-hour show will broadcast from three iconic venues: Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe.
Morris is also set to perform her latest single, "To Hell & Back" from the Ryman stage along with fellow country artists Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Riley Green, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, and Tenille Townes. Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Trisha Yearwood, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line, Mickey Guyton and Morgan Wallen will perform at the Opry.
Additionally, Jimmie Allen, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert featuring songwriters Natalie Hemby and Luke Dick, and Tim McGraw will perform at The Bluebird.
Fans can tune in to watch the show live on Wednesday, September 16 at 8PM ET on CBS.
Photo: Getty Images