“I’ve Always Loved Her Voice”: Morgan Wallen on Why He Wanted His Sister Ashlyne to Sing on ‘Outlook’

Morgan Wallen has shed light on why he wanted his sister, Ashlyne, to sing harmonies on his emotional One Thing At A Time deep-cut, ‘Outlook’. Wallen admits that he also wanted his little sister, Mikaela, to sing with him, but he left it too late in the process.

Wallen admits Mikaela had a very valid reason not to be available, “My sister Ashlyne, she's singing on ‘Outlook’ with me. I wanted me baby sister Mikaela to be on the record as well, but she had just given birth and I was real last minute about all my features anyway. So I'm lucky I got anybody on the record, if I'm being honest!”

Wallen reflects on how their mother, Lesli, found a way to incorporate music into everything, with singing being a key part of all three siblings’ upbringings, “Me, [Ashlyne] and Mikaela, we grew up singing harmonies in church, and you know, my mom was real, real musical with us growing up. You know, whether it was learning the 50 states or learning whatever, it was always something to do with song. You know, everything was music. So I kind of had no choice in that matter - thankfully!”

The ‘Thought You Should Know’ singer-songwriter pays tribute to Ashlyne's vocal ability, “Yeah, Ashlyne, I've always loved her voice. I've always wanted to do this with her but I've always kind of been in a hurry and it just never happened - and it almost happened this time, too. But luckily she came in here in this studio and sang. That was her first experience, you know, singing behind a mic like that, being recorded. So it was cool for me to be in here and seeing her be a part of that”.

He shares why ‘Outlook’, which finds Wallen meditating on how he's learned to trust in God's plan, felt like the perfect song for them to sing on, “Man, the song is spiritual, and I think, you know, just with the way we learned to sing being in a spiritual, you know, realm of things, this song just made sense for me and her to sing”.

‘Outlook’ undoubtedly feels like one of the most personal songs from Wallen's One Thing At A Time chapter, with the final double-header of ‘Outlook’ and ‘Dying Man’ capturing the heart of that project. On both songs, Wallen expresses his gratitude for his renewed faith, and outlines how he leans a lot more on God these days, a theme that was also prominent across his follow-up, I'm the Problem.

We'd love to see Wallen fulfilling his original wish to sing with both Ashlyne and Mikaela again on his next project, especially as the latter had a viral moment last summer when she shared a stellar clip of her covering the classic song, ‘House of the Rising Sun‘.

What's more, even though Ashlyne didn't sing on Wallen's last album, I'm the Problem, the ‘Last Night’ chart-topper did credit her with putting him onto Tate McRae's music while recording the project. McRae ended up featuring on the No. 1 single, ‘What I Want’.

The decision to have Ashlyne on ‘Outlook’, and the touching reasoning behind this, underlines how Wallen's projects always feel like close-knit, familial affairs, with the Sneedville native usually opting to work with friends, like HARDY, ERNEST, Eric Church and Charlie Handsome, over chasing lots of headline-grabbing collaborations.

We're excited to see what Wallen has up his sleeve for his next body of work, with his recent singles, ‘Been By Now’ and ‘Last Thing You Need’ from Grand Theft Auto VI, seemingly signalling that the country titan's fifth studio album is on the horizon.