“We’ve Got to Raise the Bar”: Blake Pendergrass on Writing for Morgan Wallen, His Opry Debut and More

When you've written some of the biggest country songs of the past few years, with cuts for Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Jelly Roll and countless other members of Nashville's elite, you could be forgiven for feeling a little smug or self-satisfied.

But for Blake Pendergrass, the songwriter behind hits like Wallen's ‘20 Cigarettes’, ‘Just in Case’ and ‘I Got Better’, when he talks about the dizzying plethora of brilliant songs that he's been a part of crafting, he makes it clear he doesn't want the credit.

For Pendergrass, the songs that emerge from his guitar and his Notes app are God-given gifts. “I definitely have the perspective that God is involved in the process, and in life in general. I feel like the ideas that I receive and the things that I think of are meant for me, and they're supposed to be in my hands, and I'm supposed to shepherd them along once I get them. I'm supposed to try and bring them up in the right rooms and with the right artists, and try to make them as good as I can”.

He adds, “That's my obligation, and the result and the impact that the songs have is not fully in my hands...I just do my best, and I do believe that God is responsible for the trajectory of my career...People can pretend all they want that it's been a master plan or something, but it's just been blessing, to be honest with you”.

And it's safe to say this approach is paying off, with Pendergrass cementing himself as one of the most in-demand songwriters in Nashville. Tonight (Tuesday, September 22nd), Pendergrass will accept the 2026 NSAI Songwriter of the Year award, and on Tuesday, September 29th, he will make his Grand Ole Opry debut.

As for what he's planning to perform at the latter, Pendergrass has a couple of extra special songs in mind, “‘I Got Better’ will probably be one of them, which is just a song me and Morgan have together. At the moment, it's the biggest song I've had, and so it feels like the right place to play that...And I think other than that, I'll play a sentimental one. There's one called ‘The Dealer’ that I wrote for Morgan that ERNEST is also singing on, and I wrote that one 100% by myself. So I think that the story behind that one, and then just like the sentimentality of having a song that I wrote all by myself, it feels like the Opry is the perfect place to play it”.

While he'd penned songs for Wallen before, such as the Dangerous fan-favourite ‘865’ and One Thing At A Time's ‘Ain't That Some’, I'm the Problem felt like the moment where the country community really started to recognise Pendergrass as one of the most influential songwriters in the modern landscape. He co-wrote 15 songs on the project, with his solo write, ‘The Dealer’, drawing widespread plaudits as one of the most traditionally ‘country’ offerings on the project.

Wallen has now kicked off a new chapter with two synth-backed, genre-blurring singles, ‘Been By Now’ and ‘Last Thing You Need’, the latter of which is the jewel in the crown of the recently unveiled Grand Theft Auto VI album. Both songs were co-written by Pendergrass, signalling he will be a cornerstone of Wallen's next era.

As for whether the Sneedville megastar offers a mission statement for his writing team before launching each new chapter, Pendergrass explains, “There's really never a brief, as far as like a directive from Morgan. There's no like, ‘This is where we're trying to go’, kind of a thing. I guess I would say it's more exploratory in a way, you know. Like me, Morgan and all the guys get together and we're trying to continue to break new ground every time. We're trying to find something that sounds like he's never done it before, but it still sounds like him”.

He goes on, “So the real brief is just that we've got to raise the bar, and we've got to find some new territory to go into. We also, a lot of times, just try to take some really big swings. We try to write songs that we think nobody else would try to write...We're kind of guessing, and also just trying to find some magic, you know? It's a very creative process because of that, because there's not really a box”.

While Pendergrass speaks with humility and modesty throughout our interview, he isn't afraid to admit that he is ambitious when it comes to pushing himself to grow and evolve.

He outlines, “I think there's the natural inclination to want to continue to grow and succeed. I think that's that's a constant thread in my life. If I'm doing well, I want to do better tomorrow than I did today. I think my goal is always to give it my best. And again, it kind of feels out of my hands. There's so much as a songwriter that is just dependent on other factors, so you can't really wrap your own value up in whether it comes out, or to be like you got more songs or less songs [on an album]”.

The North Carolina native muses, “The only metric I use is, ‘Do I feel like I gave it my best and gave it my all, and do I feel like I tried to bring the best songs, best ideas and best effort?’ And then from where it goes after that, it's just in God's hands, in my opinion”.

“We try to write songs that we think nobody else would try to write”

Pendergrass’ upbringing in North Carolina might not, on paper, look like the traditional pathway to becoming a trailblazing Nashville songwriter, with his father coming from a business background. But the mentality his parents have instilled in him has, as he shares, been pivotal in giving him the confidence to pursue his dream.

He recalls, “My dad's an entrepreneur. He was a dreamer himself in a different category of business, I guess. But he started his own law firm, and he's done really well. He's a real estate attorney, and in my opinion, he's the best there is. And so he, from a young age, had always been a risk-taker, somebody that was willing to bet on himself”.

He expands, “I got to see that as a kid. I saw what it took to get something done for yourself...If he didn't make the money, nobody else was there to get it. He was a really driven person. He would get up at 5am. When I was a kid, I remember hearing him get up and go work out, and then he'd get home at 7pm. He was a hard, hard worker. So when it came time for me to decide what I wanted to do with my life, him, my brother, my mom and everybody saw that I loved music”.

Pendergrass warmly shares how, rather than advising him to play it safe, his dad offered him the push he needed to chase his dream, “My dad was like, ‘If you love music as much as it seems like you do, you should just move to Nashville, and you should you should figure it out now when you're 17 instead of when you're 21 or 22”.

He ended up at Belmont University, which has served as a launchpad for chart-topping artists and songwriters like Tyler Hubbard, Brian Kelley Brad Paisley, Ashley Gorley and more.

He shares that, as soon as he set foot on campus, it felt like home, “It felt like God was driving me in that direction, and so I followed that leading and that prompting - and I did not write songs before that. I'd written a song maybe just as like a joke with some friends in the music classes that I was in, but I didn't know songwriting was a career. I didn't know how you actually made a career in music at all”.

Pendergrass again touches on the guidance from his father that he leaned on when deciding to try and become a songwriter, “The piece of advice that my dad always used to give me was that if you find something you love, then you'll probably figure out a way to make some money at it. He was like, I don't know how much, or I don't know if it'll be crazy living, but if you love that and you don't go give yourself the opportunity to pursue it, then you're going to regret it. I had great parents, I had great guidance in that regard, and me and my dad actually get to connect a lot. There's a lot of business that goes into the music side of things...so me and my dad get to have lots of fun conversations about that kind of stuff now”.

Now, after amassing a shimmering collection of No. 1 accolades and esteemed songwriting credits, Pendergrass will receive one of the most prestigious awards you can receive as a writer - the NSAI award for Songwriter of the Year at the Ryman Auditorium.

“It's so exciting”, Pendergrass gushes, before paying tribute to his Back Blocks Music crew, “My whole publishing team, Rakiyah [Marshall England] and Kirby [Mathews] and all them have facilitated great moments and memories. Like, Ashley Gorley presented the initial news to me, which was really fun. He's a guy that I've always looked up to and respect so much. So to be able to have people that I respect highly and care about so much be involved with the process, and be willing to give some of their time to honour me is a huge, huge thing. And I think it'll be fun...I can't wait. My whole family will be there, so it's gonna be great”.

Pendergrass’ story is a classic example of a 10-year overnight success story. For many, the sheer abundance of material he contributed to Wallen's I'm the Problem meant that this was the first time they were hearing of him, despite the fact that he'd been writing for over a decade before this. As he points out in our conversation, it took him 13 years to get his first No. 1 hit, ‘Just in Case’, which was last July.

And what's especially exciting for fans is that it sounds like his best might still be to come, with Pendergrass revealing that his favourite song is one that hasn't been released.

He underlines, “As far as the ones that are out, it's definitely ‘The Dealer’. That one's my favourite on that front. But there are some that we have in this process of new songs being written. There's a song that I wrote with the same guys that I wrote ‘Ain't That Some’, ‘20 Cigarettes’ and ‘Brunette’ with. Me and that crew have got one particular song that I'm very, very excited about. I'm very, very grateful for it”.

He concludes, “I don't think there's a song like it. So I'm pretty excited about it. I can't say more than that, just because it's one of those that's in progress. But I am very excited for that song...I love writing with those guys, and the fact that we've got another one that feels like people could be really impacted by feels really exciting”.

Given Pendergrass wrote ‘Ain't That Some’, ‘20 Cigarettes’ and ‘Brunette’ with Chase McGill, Chris LaCorte and Josh Miller, a quick scan through the ASCAP repertory reveals a host of unreleased songs that he could be referring to, from ‘All-A-Southern Man’, ‘Cold Day in Hell’, ‘More Than My Mind’ and ‘Roll Call’ to ‘Sheep By The River’, ‘Sintoxicated’, ‘That's All Folks’, ‘Wayward Waters’ and ‘When the Big Deer's Dead’.

Either way, Pendergrass is showing no intention of slowing down as he continues to solidify his position as one of the most respected and prolific songwriters in Music City.

But at the end of the day, as Pendergrass repeatedly emphasises during our discussion, the purpose for him isn't found in the dazzling accolades, trophies and awards. It's in his continuing pursuit to write the best songs he can, make the most of the opportunities God gives him, and in turn, have a real impact on anyone that listens.

In a way, the best summary of Pendergrass’ outlook on both songwriting and his career is found nestled into that key song, ‘The Dealer’: “There's been a few days I 'bout folded / But I found one more card to play / Been a few days, I was hopeless / And I'll be damned, I drew an ace / Guess that's life and that's why I remind myself / To spend more time talkin' to the dealer / Than worryin' about the hands I'm dealt”.

Featured photography by Hayley Gjertsen