Charlie Handsome Says Morgan Wallen Rejecting a Song Means It’s Dead, “99.9% of the Time”

Morgan Wallen's go-to producer, Charlie Handsome, has opened up about how he, Wallen and their collaborators have zeroed in on a unique sound over the years. As a result, it means Wallen has to be extremely selective with the songs he records, and by the same token, Handsome has to be highly specific when writing for him.

In a conversation with Bobby Bones for BobbyCast, Handsome reflects on how, if he's written a song for Wallen, and Wallen rejects it, he usually won't send it to anyone else, “If we write a song for Morgan Wallen and then Morgan doesn't want the song, I don't pitch it to anyone else...Generally, like 99.9% of the time, the song is dead”.

He goes on, “Country becomes interesting in that juncture. Not to take away from anyone else, if I write a song not for Morgan, a country song, then I feel like it's open. Then I feel like it's like, okay, there's probably 10 artists that could sound good doing this”.

By contrast, he stresses that, with Wallen, he's built such a clear sound and aesthetic that it feels wrong to send a song written with him in mind to another artist, who might then mimic the ‘Thought You Should Know’ singer-songwriter's style.

Handsome muses, “I feel like...we've honed in on such a sound that no one else really was doing that...if I have something that sounds like that and he's like, ‘I pass on it’, I'm not giving that to somebody else. You know, I don't want to create that situation”.

Handsome has become an integral part of Wallen's creative camp, having worked with the Sneedville native since his debut album, If I Know Me. Handsome has produced countless hits for Wallen, as well as having a hand in writing chart-toppers such as ‘More Than My Hometown’, ‘You Proof’, ‘Last Night’ and ‘Been By Now’.

Handsome - whose real name is Ryan Vojtesak - also co-wrote Wallen's latest single, ‘Last Thing You Need’, which appears on the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto VI soundtrack.

Handsome outlines how he applied this approach to Post Malone's F-1Trillion sessions, “When I get with any artist on a project, like Post, I was like, ‘Okay, we got to figure out what feels right for you’, but also that when someone listens to the whole album, they don't go, ‘Well, this could have been in the name of different artists’”.

Handsome continues, “So that could have been on their album. Like, it has to be just that artist's project. And so I feel like Post already has some things he was looking at. He was looking at 90’s country. He was looking at classic country records”

He adds how ‘I Had Some Help’ with Wallen was a great opening single, but fans could then dive into some more old-school country on the project, “He wanted to explore all those things...and I feel like we did that and we did a good job of it. And then obviously, the first single was probably the most pop-leaning thing you'd hear for the whole album. And then it, like, as you keep diving deeper into it, it's gonna, you know, keep going more into like the roots and more into the older s***”.

It's fascinating hearing Handsome talk about his work with both Wallen and Post in this way, with Handsome's fingerprints all over some of the biggest songs in modern country.

With Wallen gearing up for a new project, Handsome has been vocal about the fact that his vision in this next chapter is for the ‘20 Cigarettes’ crooner is to achieve more Pop Radio No. 1s, while his vocals ensure the music is still loosely tied to country.

The recent singles, ‘Last Thing You Need’ and ‘Been By Now’, seemingly reenforce that this is the mission. It might sound like a risk for an artist who already catches flak for blurring the lines between genres. But with Handsome at the helm, given his track record, you have to trust that he'll be steering it in the right direction.

Wallen has cemented himself as one of the most innovative and musically open-minded artists in today's country landscape, with his last project, 2025's I'm the Problem, incorporating eclectic textures from indie-rock, Hip-Hop and more. We can't wait to hear what boundary-pushing music is next from this country titan and super-producer duo - but whatever it is, we're sure it'll be pretty darn awesome.

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