On the town with Morgan Evans

Australian-turned-Nashville export Morgan Evans is bringing his latest album Steel Town home for a national tour next month. Kicking things off in Perth at the Ice Cream Factory on Thursday, May 21—before winding through six more dates across Australia and New Zealand—Evans will be joined on the night by his partner Laci Kaye Booth, who opens the show, with tickets on sale now. RACHEL FINUCANE sat down with Evans to talk about his early days cutting his teeth in the Australian music scene (including a little support slot for a certain Taylor Swift on her Fearless tour), what it means to come home after years away, and why there isn’t a single song on this setlist you’ll want to miss.

Your first-ever gig—can you tell us about that?

It was in Newcastle, at a venue called The Cambridge, which was kind of the centre of the live music scene there—it’s been shut down in the last couple of years. It was maybe 9:30 on a Wednesday night, a school night, and I was 14 years old playing in a band with my brother, who was 12. We really didn’t know much of anything other than we got this chance to set up in a place with real people in it. My drummer was my mate from kindergarten; his dad drove the drums in, and my dad drove the guitar amps. We rocked out—and I think the lady playing the poker machines thought it was maybe a little bit too loud.

I’m a massive Taylor Swift fan, as everyone is, but one of your first big gigs was opening for Taylor on her Fearless tour. What did you learn about country music from that experience?

That was a very exciting time. Fearless hadn’t come out yet when they booked the tour, and then it came out before she actually did it, so she asked me to open—which I was obviously stoked to do. By the time the tour dates came around, we were playing places like the Tivoli in Brisbane, about 1,400 capacity, and at that point, I think she had the biggest song in the world with Love Story. I remember we were about to go on, and my guitar player just put his foot out onto the stage, and the whole place just screamed—it was so crazy. Being able to feel that really early in my career kept me going a little bit. It was a good reminder of the kind of experience you can create for people and be a part of.

You have a radio show on Apple Music that spotlights country artists. What’s it like being on the other side and promoting their work?

That was something I was able to do through COVID, which was a really nice way to stay in touch with everybody and with music when we were all shut down. I really enjoy the mateship in country music—I always feel like I’m friends with whoever we end up touring with by the end of the tour. It was nice to call up a few of those old friends, meet a few new people, share their music, and be a part of that discovery process. I really enjoyed the experience.

The last time you were here in Australia, you sold out two nights at the Sydney Opera House on your Life Upside Down tour. Are there any memories from those shows that stand out?

That was such an epic thing for an Aussie to be able to do—it didn’t even feel like something on my list because it seemed a little crazy. Having John Williamson come along and play with us was probably the highlight. I grew up listening to his music, so it was pretty special to have him tip the hat and be a part of the shows. It’s the kind of gig your whole family comes to, and it feels like a moment. We recorded it and made a live record out of it too, which I’d never done before—a lot of firsts, and I’m glad we captured it because those things do fly by pretty quickly.

Do you have any other moments where you’ve been in the room with people you admire?

I played a show during COVID at the Opry with Keith Urban, which was pretty unreal. It was a songwriter round, so we sat next to each other and played songs one at a time. Before the gig, he said, “Hey, you want to hold down the chords in Blue Ain’t Your Colour while I do the guitar solo?” I was like—hell yeah. We played Somebody Like You together as well, and he let me sing a little bit on it. That was probably another one of those moments. Keith and his music are a big reason I still do this and moved to America, so that was a big night.

You have two songs on the album—Back to Country and Land I Love—which weave in tributes to Indigenous culture and Australia’s natural landscape. Has living overseas shaped or deepened your appreciation for these things?

Yeah, I think so. Being an Australian in America, I feel like I can see America for all its great things and things that could use a little work. Having been gone from Australia for so long, I come back and have that objective perspective on so many of the great things about this country that I maybe took for granted before. Those two tracks are expressing that. Having William Barton on those songs—he brings this grounding, epic, otherworldly texture, instrumentally and vocally, with the chanting and beatboxing. It just created a soundscape like nothing I’ve really heard before. Those songs definitely took a lot of time and attention to detail, and I’m really proud of how they came up.

Even the sounds of the animals—if you play those songs outside with Australian nature, hearing the actual bird sounds contrast against the animals in the track must be so good.

Yeah, absolutely. I’m glad you feel all that and hear all that. We worked really hard to make it feel like that, and I’m glad it comes across.

What’s it like being an Aussie in Nashville? What’s something you love about the city that you miss when you go on tour?

I just love the community of like-minded music people there. I don’t think you find that anywhere else in the world—the person in every hometown who is obsessed with country music, wanting to do it all the time. It feels like they’ve all gone to Nashville. That becomes your friend group and the people you hang out with, and it’s really comforting, fun, and obviously productive. It was the best thing about the town when I moved there, and it still is.

Your partner, Laci Kaye Booth, is opening for you on tour. What are you most excited for the audience to hear and discover about her music?

Just how good it is—it’s kind of crazy how good she is as a vocalist and the songs too. She’s a great personality on stage, and I think her music and my music will really complement each other. I’m excited to get to introduce her to a lot of Australia in a live way.

Has she been here before? Have you taken her around?

Yeah, she’s been down a handful of times. We’ve spent a lot of time on the East Coast—went up to the Barrier Reef, Sydney, and different spots along the East Coast. But I haven’t been able to take her to Adelaide or Perth yet. I keep telling her how awesome those places are, and we have a couple of days in each of those cities around the shows, so we’ll actually get to go and experience them.

Perth is your first stop on this tour at the Ice Cream Factory. How do you usually approach opening nights with all that nervous energy and excitement?

I’m always just trying to be in the moment, because as you go through a tour, things become more muscle memory, and you can think less about logistics and more about just being in this place with all these people. Earlier in a tour, you can spend a lot of time thinking about what’s coming two songs from now—am I ready for that? But we’ve just played the Meatstock festivals the last couple of weeks, so the band is cooking, and it feels really good. I’m not nervous at all. I’m really excited to play these songs live with this band and just hit the ground running.

I saw those videos on TikTok of you frying up the meat on the barbecue! Is there a song from this album you’re especially excited to bring here?

I wrote this record at the end of the busiest two years of touring of my life, so I made a real effort to make sure every song was something I looked forward to playing live, where you look down at the set list and think, ‘I can’t wait to get to that one.’ Land I Love is probably the one I’m most looking forward to. We haven’t actually played it live yet, so the first time we play it will be in Perth.

After everything you’ve been through—the highs, the lows, all the changes—what do you hope fans take away from this tour?

It’ll definitely be a rollercoaster of all the emotions, and I think that’s what this record is. Above anything, I think the song Letting You Go will represent the feeling of this tour—this big release of whatever’s weighing you down or that you’ve been carrying around and need to get rid of. Hopefully, the show will just be a big release of all that. We’ll explore all the emotions but eventually get rid of them all and have a real good time doing it.

Steel Town is out now. Morgan Evans brings his Steel Town Tour to Ice Cream Factory on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Tickets are on sale now from frontiertouring.com