Maren Morris joined Ellen DeGeneres for an in-the-studio conversation on DeGeneres’ talk show on Thursday to chat about her upcoming performance on the Grammy Awards and why she thinks country music is getting more socially conscious.
Morris, whose hit “The Bones” is nominated for Best Country Song at Sunday’s Grammys, confirmed she’ll be performing on the show with John Mayer on guitar. (The artists teased their collaboration on Instagram earlier this week, but have yet to say exactly which song they’ll perform.) She also talked about the importance of music during the now yearlong pandemic.
“It’s the only thing on the to-do list. ‘Well, can’t go anywhere, I’m going to write a song today,’” she said, offering that she’s “appreciative” of the Grammys for staging a safe and somewhat in-person show.
Morris, whose recent video “Better Than We Found It” shined a harsh light on injustice and police brutality, expressed optimism for the direction country music is heading. She said she’s been doing her homework on the genre’s history of excluding minorities.
“I’m a white woman in country music. I already sort of have this leg up. Even though there is a huge disparity between men and women in our genre, there is even more of a disparity between white women and black women trying to be in country music,” Morris said. “There are so many black women and men who adore country music and don’t feel the door is open for them, even a crack.
“Country music as a genre,” she continued, “is definitely stepping up to the plate, slowly but surely.”