Hit songwriter John Morgan makes his mark as an artist with ‘Friends Like That’ + ‘Carolina Blue’

Since John Morgan‘s made a name for himself as a songwriter, it’s not exactly a surprise that he had a hand in crafting all the tracks on his debut album, Carolina Blue. 

But when you’ve written hits like “If I Didn’t Love You” for Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood, as well as Jason’s current single, “Whiskey Drink,” how do you decide which songs to keep for yourself?

“I had a lot of time,” John says. “I had three years to kind of sift through songs, and, you know, that was my process, too, and still is — is write the best idea in the room. And if it’s for somebody else, it’s not meant to be for me.”

“But if it is something that I feel strongly about I can stick it in my back pocket,” he tells ABC Audio. “And so it’s been three or four years of that that has built up to really packaging this whole thing together.” 

Two songs John wrote are currently in the top five, Jason’s “Whiskey Drink” and the duet between the two, “Friends Like That,” which is John’s first #1 as an artist.

The 12-track Carolina Blue is out now, with John set to perform on Live with Kelly & Mark on Wednesday, April 30.