It was the way she pounded her fist on her guitar. The way she ripped the mic out of its stand. The way she danced to her music like a dreamy teenager.
Maren Morris, Nashville's finest, sparkles at Minnesota State Fair
She showed humor, humanity and heart in an eclectic performance.
August 28, 2021 at 4:37AM
It was the way Maren Morris poured her heart into song and conversation.
On Friday at the Minnesota State Fair grandstand, Morris was everything that Miranda Lambert wasn't the night before. Morris showed more personality in her opening selection than Lambert did in practically her entire performance.
Lambert may be the most important and impressive female artist in country music in the last 15 years or so. But Morris may be the most exciting. Her performance Friday was, in a word, terrific. In 85 minutes, she delivered empowering songs with a passionate and alluring voice, improving on her 2019 gig at the Minneapolis Armory, which lacked energy and pacing.
Like Taylor Swift, Morris doesn't stay in her Nashville lane. In fact, about the only twanger she offered Friday was the playfully empowering romp "Redesigning Women" by the Highwomen, a Nashville supergroup featuring Morris, Brandi Carlile and others. Morris, a 31-year-old Texan, loves her some R&B, as evidenced Friday by the sultry booty call "RSVP" and the soul-meets-hip-hop "Sugar," another invitation to love.
Equally parts Beyoncé and Adele, Morris has a way with ballads (highlights: the insistently scolding "Once" and "I Could Use a Love Song" framed by slide guitar and cello) and plain old pop (she threw herself into "The Middle," her 2018 collab with Zedd, with conviction, whether screaming or purring). She doesn't hesitate to toss in some surprises, such as Swift's "Out of the Woods" that became hypnotic with its circular rhythms and trance-like chorus.
Morris displayed her humor on the peppy, cheeky "Rich," and manifested her humanity when talking about her son, Hayes, born in March 2020. Friday was the first time he attended one of Mom's concerts. At the fair, he got to see a dog having surgery and he grabbed a butterfly but didn't kill it. However, Hayes was in bed by showtime.
The crowd of 4,504 sang along so boisterously to the gospel-tinged "My Church" — Morris' 2016 breakthrough country hit about the power of radio — that it could have awakened the toddler. But Mom wouldn't have minded, because after "My Church," she talked about the impact of the pandemic and the importance of community and especially coming together for live music.
She mentioned that feedback from fans has convinced her that her hit "The Bones," one of the biggest songs of 2020, has taken on new meaning. It was written about the strength of her relationship with her husband. Now, she said, it's about the strength of our world and our country.
"The house don't fall when the bones are good," she sang in an end-of-the-show love song that has become an anthem in any musical style.
Morris picked two Minnesota natives in their mid-20s living in Nashville as her opening acts. In their sets filled with covers of rock and country hits, Perham, Minn., native Patrick Murphy, who competed on the grandstand stage in the amateur talent show a decade ago, demonstrated an appealing tenor voice, while Plymouth-reared Noah Schnacky came across as an extroverted entertainer with an ordinary voice. He acted like a star, jumping into the crowd to give a rose to a concertgoer, but he didn't sing like a star.
Twitter: @JonBream • 612-673-1719
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