Megan Moroney Delivers a Stripped Back Set of Country Classics at the Long Road Festival 2023

Photography by Kendall Wilson

“My name is Megan Moroney,” the Georgia star announced as she took to the stage for the first of three sets at The Long Road Festival. “And I have horrible taste in men”,

Performing as a stripped down three-piece on the Sunday afternoon with simply a percussionist and acoustic guitar player for accompaniment, Moroney admitted to relishing the freedom the storyteller style set-up gave her. Telling the crowd about the inspiration and the stories behind songs like 'I'm Not Pretty' and 'Hey Johnny', mostly taken from her debut album Lucky, as she performed them on the Rhinestone Stage.

So, ‘Hair Salon’ came complete with a tale about her monthly outings to get her roots done at Bernadette’s hairdressers and ‘Traitor, Joe’ with an explanation for why she doesn’t ever trust men whose names begin with the letter "J".

Wearing a white puff ball dress and slot machine patterned cowboy boots, she told the crowd that her three biggest influences growing up were Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and Taylor Swift, then launched into a perfect rendition of a teen Taylor Swift’s 2006 hit ‘Picture To Burn.’

It makes sense that Moroney would have grown up on those three women in country. She’s like a perfect mix of those influences. Taking Miranda’s endearing introversion, Kacey’s dry eye-rolling wit and Taylor’s girl-next-door pop charm and rolling it up into something entirely fresh and original.

“I either write bad bitch country songs or emo cowgirl songs,” she told the crowd before closing her set with a string of three of her finest of the latter. Performing ‘Girl In The Mirror’ alone on the Rhinestone Stage as the crowd sang gently along, before singing the slightly cheerier ‘Sad Songs For Sad People’ and finishing with a rousing rendition of ‘Tennessee Orange’ that had everyone from five years old upwards waving and singing along at the tops of their voices.

If the crowd responses to her performances over this weekend are anything to go by, Megan Moroney has already been taken lovingly to the hearts of British audiences. Let’s just hope she doesn’t leave it too long before she comes back. Wink wink C2C Festival.

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