One thing I love about country music is the crop of fresh new talent rising through the ranks. Wonderful young singers are always emerging with great songs, an individual and sometimes delightfully quirky take on the genre, plus plenty of energy and flair. Among them is Houston Merrill. He's got genuine country music chops and pure country music soul. His debut single, "Dear Megan," drops today. Stream it HERE.
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How Houston Merrill's Debut Single Came About
According to press materials, Merrill, writer/producer Jacob Bunton, and producer Jeff Blue were brainstorming but nothing was really coming together. Sometimes that happens. But suddenly, a chance remark ignited a creative fire. As Merrill explains, "Nobody was inspired. Nothing was clicking. Somebody was goofing off on the gossip sites, reading about this drama between Kendrick Lamar and Drake, and how there's now a lawsuit over a beef track. Somebody says, 'How come we never have beef tracks in country music?" Then somebody yells, 'Houston, you're the problem!' Two hours later, the song was written and recorded."
What eventually came out of that momentous session was "Dear Megan," Merrill's whimsical riff on Megan Moroney's song, "Man on the Moon," in which Moroney theorizes about how to get a troublesome former beau as far away as possible - like maybe sending him into outer space!
'Dear Megan' Is Irresistibly Catchy
The song is Merrill's sassy retort to Moroney, set to a catchy country beat. As the lyrics say:
Verse
"Megan, you're mistaken, I'm workin', you're complainin'
Yeah, I called, but it was you that let it ring
You've been calling me a problem,
Yeah you're always trynna solve him
Wanna save me, wanna change that I can't give
Pre-Chorus
I don't need no NASA flight
Just chasing what's right
Chorus
Don't need no rocket, don't need no moon
I'm already gone, There's nothin' left for you...."
Merrill, a former model who hails from the Salt Lake City, Utah, area, makes clear that it's all in the spirit of unabashed good fun. Per the release, he explained, "First off, I love Megan Moroney. I'm a huge, huge, fan. on't misunderstand that. This song was a complete accident."
Houston Merrill will surely grow his fan base with this song. He has the ease of someone who was born to sing country. We're excited to see what he does in the future.
