Morgan Wallen on Writing ‘If I Know Me’ with Charlie Handsome and ERNEST: “A Friendship That's Still Going Today”

During a new episode of Morgan Wallen Radio on SiriusXM, Wallen reflects on writing ‘If I Know Me’ on the very first day he met Charlie Handsome. Handsome now serves as one of Wallen's closest friends in the industry and a go-to collaborator.

‘If I Know Me’ remains a pivotal song in Wallen's catalogue, with the playful, pop-infused track being one of the first hints at the genre-blurring that was to come on his later projects.

Co-written by Wallen, Handsome, ERNEST and HARDY, ‘If I Know Me’ serves as the title-track to the Sneedville native's debut studio album, which arrived back April 2018.

Speaking via his Morgan Wallen Radio channel on SiriusXm, Wallen begins by recalling, “We were talking about something, and I said, ‘Man, if I know me, I'd...’ you know, whatever. And we looked at each other and decided we were going to go write that”.

The ‘Last Night’ hitmaker goes on, “‘If I Know Me’ was actually the first song that me and ERN and Charlie had ever written together. It was on the first day that I met Charlie”.

Wallen regales listeners with how he met Handsome through ERNEST, “I was recording other music in the studio with Joey [Moi], and ERN brought Charlie in there to meet me and that was the first day of a relationship and a friendship that's still going today”. Wallen and ERNEST both attended Handsome's wedding in November 2024, and the trio remaining good buddies and formidable collaborators.

Now, of course, Handsome is a cornerstone of Wallen's creative process, having co-written ’Last Night’, ‘You Proof’, ‘I Had Some Help’ ‘More Than My Hometown’ and more. Handsome also co-producers the vast majority of Wallen's work these days.

With Wallen currently working on his follow-up to his widely celebrated 2025 album, I'm the Problem, Handsome is once again expected to form an integral part of the project.

The new chapter is expected to revolve around Wallen's current Country Radio single, ‘Been By Now’ - another song that Handsome co-wrote - with the country titan continuing to expand his sonic horizons and experiment with textures outside country.

Handsome even revealed in a recent interview that he wants Wallen to dominate Pop Radio, as well as Country Radio and the Billboard Hot 100, with a pop-friendly sound that is still grounded in country, primarily due to Wallen's unmistakable drawl.

With Post Malone also a key collaborator of Handsome's, with the prolific producer and his buddy ERNEST helping to facilitate both of Posty's link-ups with Wallen, we're hoping there's more in store from Post and Wallen soon. Post is gearing up to drop his double-album this year, which is rumoured to be half-country, half-trap.

Given Wallen's unique ability to flit between sub-genres such as country, trap, rock and indie with ease and sincerity, we wouldn't be surprised if he features on the rap-inspired side of Post's new album, The Eternal Buzz, rather than the country one. Either way, we can't wait to see what Wallen, Post and Handsome have up their sleeves.