Album Review: Heather Morgan - "Borrowed Heart"

Well-known singer-songwriter delivers debut album to the masses and showcases why she's become such an in-demand collaborator.

On Borrowed Heart, noted Nashville songwriter Heather Morgan finally showcases the kind of artist she can be after years working behind the scenes as one of the busiest songwriting collaborator working with and writing for the likes Dierks Bentley, Mat Kearney, Lindsay Ell, Michael Ray, Kenny Chesney,  Randy Rogers Band, Keith Urban, Martina McBride, and Brett Eldredge, among many others. The album features 12 tracks and collaborators like Paul Moak, Ross Copperman and Lori McKenna, the artist/songwriter who directly inspired Morgan to finally release a proper album.

The album kicks off with “We Were A Fire” and it definitely has the power and punch of any important Nashville writer/artist album, especially reminiscent of the powerful albums from the likes of Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack, McBride and McKenna. “Your Hurricane” is a song with tight, emotive lyrics which are given even more weight with Heather Morgan’s Dolly meets Kacey Musgraves vocals. “Morning Light” has a lyric which tells a story of a woman who knows that her relationship is in tatters and that she has to leave the broken relationship, a relationship’s context which is told by the haunting melody and track production.

“Highway Robbery” “A Hundred Miles” and “Fall Like Rain” all are strong musical moments but so is “Speckled Bird,” one of the few songs carried over from previous songwriter projects Morgan would sell at writer’s rounds around Nashville and across the country. It’s one of the best songs she’s ever written and definitely a great inclusion to “Borrowed Heart.” The two collaborations on Borrowed Heart (“I Always Did” with Ross Copperman and “Arms Of A Lion” with Lori McKenna) are vastly different but both do talk about relationships, something Borrowed Heart is all about, especially on the title track closer, a song which she sings of sharing her heart with the world through other voices (her songwriting collaborators).

With Borrowed Heart, Heather Morgan announces her arrival as an artist worthy of our attention in addition to being one of the top shelf songwriting collaborators for A-list country artists. It’s a great place for her to be in, and here’s hoping that Borrowed Heart, one of 2018’s best albums, is but the first of many to come.

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