Maren Morris has today released her third studio album – Humble Quest – including the hit single ‘Circles Around This Town.’ The record showcases a move for Morris, the first without her late producer Busbee, and an organic step in her musical evolution. Listen to the record here.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, artists were forced to grapple with their own identity in a time when the show was not allowed to go on. One of those was Maren Morris, who in the bio for her third studio album Humble Quest, questions, ‘”What do you write about when the show can’t go on?” I think every songwriter in the world had a few months of that question at the beginning of the pandemic. “Honestly, what is the fucking point?”‘ It’s a question that Morris appears to question in the leading track from the album, ‘Circles Around This Town,’ with the cutting line dismissing her past success, ‘Couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked / Was the one about a car and the one about a church.’ On Humble Quest there are no cars and churches in sight. Her third record instead reveals more of Morris’ heart – her flaws, her fears and her loves. It is her most honest and poignant storytelling to date, analysing her own flaws and mistakes in a way that she has not yet attempted . Having lost her producer Busbee, Morris turned to frequent collaborator Greg Kurstin (Adele, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters) – who she worked with on The Bones – to produce the record and co-wrote the record with her husband Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Jimmy Robbins, Natalie Hemby, Laura Veltz and Jon Green on Busbee’s piano.The resulting record is one that feels deeply intimate, allowing Morris to embrace the imperfections in her life through snapshots of her rises and falls, overshares, lullabies, wine-soaked conversations with one old friend and a final goodbye to another one [Busbee]. Sonically, Morris indulges into her the groove and soulful element of her music that has always existed at the edges but now moves to centre stage, helmed by Kurstin.
So on leadout track, ‘Circles Around This Town,’ Morris acknowledges the journey she has undergone to get to her current stardom. It’s a slow lingering groove, indulging in the thicker grungier, rock side of Morris’ music on the driving guitar, telling the story of her journey in Nashville from ‘a couple bad demos’ to ‘the ones that finally worked.’ Morris returns to the uncertainty of this journey on ‘Detour,’ where she acknowledges the fear that comes with that fragility, ‘Not supposed to cry when all the skies are blue / But I was disappointed when I saw the view / So I threw my map away and that’s the way / I stumbled in to you.’ It’s an acknowledgement of the fractured and frustrating fear of that journey when the destination is uncertain and is some of her most vulnerable songwriting, accompanied by a muted and swirling traditional country production. Elsewhere that journey or her ‘Humble Quest’ that is the mainstay thread of the record is returned to on the title track. Here, Morris struggles to understand the meaning of ‘humility’ in a world that puts unrealistic demands on artists, especially women, to keep them small. The track showcases the pain and confusion Morris experienced on speaking out against the hatred shown to Mickey Guyton from fans. ‘Been biting my tongue behind a smile / Fallen on swords that I can’t see / Poisoned my well on the daily / Got easier not to ask / Just kept hitting my head on the glass / I was so nice til I woke up / I was polite til I spoke up / I’m on a humble quest, and damn I do my best / Not gonna hold my breath because I still haven’t found it yet.’ Lyrically, the track is the most powerful moment on the record and the most vulnerable acknowledgement of her own flaws and mistakes.
Another main thread of the record hinges around her mature and deep love for her husband, Ryan Hurd, with whom she co-wrote a large part of the record. The theme is first brought in on second track – ‘The Furthest Thing’ – an entrancing, piano-led love song undercut with a grooving guitar part. ‘You’re the furthest thing, but damned if we still fit so perfectly.’ Morris’ husband Ryan Hurd joins her for the ballad, bringing back the harmonies that were showcased on ‘Chasing After You.’ It’s a mesmerising track about love even over distance, while Morris and Hurd are both on the road. So too, ‘I Can’t Love You Anymore’ infuses a lighter, fun-loving element to that love, in which Kurstin brings in a vintage country sound. Accompanied once more by Hurd, the duo exchange harmonies about the real meaning of love. ‘You bring me coffee every morning / You’re fun even when you’re boring / And you like me even when I’m being a b**ch.’ Accompanied by a jaunty piano part and thick harmonies, the track is infused with a far more traditional country sound. So too, pre-released track ‘Background Music‘ is another beautiful love song. Here, Morris celebrates the beauty of the temporary, addressing mortality in a profoundly uplifting and beautiful manner. Co-written by Morris alongside frequent collaborators Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz, it is an authentic track about the true meaning of love and life. ‘We got time but we’re only human / We call it forever but we know that there’s an end to it / You and I can dance our way through it / And I’ll love you ’til all that we are is background music.’ Vocally, it is one of the most wondrous moments for Morris on Humble Quest, accompanied by a delightful, swirling production.
Elsewhere, Morris brings in a cheekier element to that love, on ‘Nervous’ and ‘Tall Guys.’ The former offers a bolder, grungier and rockier production to kick off the second half of the record. ‘Leaving my inhibitions exposed, you make me nervous.’ This moodier production feels somewhat incongruous in the landscape of the record, but it is a powerful kick-off if the record is divided into Side A and Side B. On the latter, ‘Tall Guys’ continues the heftier, rock feel as she sings a love letter to her husband Ryan Hurd. ‘they keep me looking up, when I’m feeling down / I can always find ’em in the middle of crowd / When I can’t see over, he puts me on his shoulders / I can wear my heels real high / I’m a lover of all types, but there’s somethin’ ’bout tall guys.’ The feel of this track is brought in again in the thrumming and grooving track that acknowledges another kind of love – friendship, in which Morris places immense value on those relationships. ‘Sometimes you take me for granted / Sometimes I can be backhanded / But you got my back while I’m holding your hand / What else do we need?’
The words she chooses to acknowledge her love for Hurd have taken a deeper, more mature turn on Humble Quest, possibly owing to her new role as a mother. So, the Appalachian folky ballad ‘Hummingbird’ opens with whispers of her son’s voice, ‘mamma.’ The track is delightfully whimsical and dream-like as Morris sings ‘I’ve been waiting all my life, for your colours / And I’ve been watering my flowers while you’re gone / I’ve been looking out the window for a glimmer / Not knowing you’ve been with me all along’ It’s a beautifully moving, quiet lullaby-like track about a mother’s love for her son. ‘I’ll hold you in my loving arms / But I’ll let you fly free.’ The poignancy of this track is hammered home by the final track ‘What Would This World Do?’ This last is the most immensely moving moment of Humble Quest, particularly positioned after ‘Good Friends,’ as a poignant reminder of Morris’ loss in her producer Busbee, especially the lyric, ‘I’ll keep all your Polaroids hanging on display / And I’ll drink all the wine you gave me on my wedding day / Don’t know what I would do if your tomorrow never came / The only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll never be the same.’ It’s an emotional and powerful tribute, on which Morris, with the help of Hurd and Jon Green, selects her words carefully to acknowledge that friendship and loss.
Humble Quest offers a far more muted note than her sophomore album GIRL, yet showcases the poignancy and care with which Morris selects her lyrics and crafts her artistry. It’s a record filled with love and intimacy, that will please fans as much for its ability to introduce Morris further as a person, than for the richness of the songs themselves. Humble Quest is a record for lovers of pure songwriting prowess at its finest, while not rammed with as many anthemic tracks as her previous works, it is some of her best and most powerful work to date.
