“My Mom Played Such a Huge Part in Getting Me to This Point”: Morgan Wallen on Writing ‘Thought You Should Know’ for His Mother

Morgan Wallen is touching on how his fan-favourite song, ‘Thought You Should Know‘, came about with some help from two of Nashville's leading songwriters, Miranda Lambert and Nicolle Galyon. Wallen goes on to share how much it means to him to have a globally known single that is dedicated to his beloved mother, Lesli Wallen.

‘Thought You Should Know’ serves as one of the stand-outs from Wallen's 2023 album, One Thing At A Time, with the Sneedville native framing the song as a phone-call with his mom.

It finds Wallen opening up to his mother about how he's been struggling with drinking too much and “makin’ some bad decisions”, before reassuring her that he thinks the prayers she'd always pray for him seem to have been making their way through lately.

It felt like a precursor to Wallen's more recent sobriety and how he's embraced his role as a father to Indigo, with the ‘Last Night’ hitmaker outlining to his mom that it's time to grow up.

During an episode of Morgan Wallen Radio, Wallen recalls how he'd written portions of ‘Thought You Should Know’, but couldn't quite get the song to click, “I had actually been trying to write this song. I had had parts of it, you know, parts of the verse, parts of the chorus, that I took into the write that I had already written. But it just wasn't completely right, and I couldn't get it right by myself. So I figured, who better than to take it to a couple of the best female writers in the world?”

Wallen warmly pays tribute to how Lambert and Galyon's masterful songwriting were the missing pieces of the puzzle, “Miranda and Nicolle Galyon helped me finish it, and it ended up being a Country Radio single, a video, which was perfect because my mom played such a huge part in getting me to this point in my career”.

The ‘Love Somebody’ singer-songwriter emphasises how special it is that one of his most popular songs is ultimately a song he wrote for his mom, given everything she's done for him, “It's awesome to have a song that's so well-known be in tribute to her”.

Particularly in hindsight, ‘Thought You Should Know’ feels like one of the most important releases in Wallen's catalogue. It was the second single he released after his notorious 2021 racial slur incident, following the vulnerable ‘Don't Think Jesus’, with Wallen continuing a run of personal and heartfelt songs during the aftermath.

Wallen has cited his mother as a hugely influential figure in the early days of his career, even bringing her as his date to the 2022 Billboard Music Awards and expressing his gratitude to her and his family during his acceptance speech. To this day, Lesli remains a key force in the Morgan Wallen Foundation's various philanthropic pursuits.

With Wallen penning ‘Thought You Should Know’ for his mother and ‘Superman’ in honour of his son, Indigo, we're hoping his next album will bring a song for his dad, Tommy.

Tommy has been a prominent figure on Morgan Wallen Radio in recent months, with the Tennessee pastor hosting a Sunday Seven series, in which he explores various Biblical teachings. Given how Tommy has opened up about his admiration for Wallen, and how he's overcome various challenges in his life, we think a song tipping his cap to his dad would be a lovely gesture on the country titan's forthcoming project.