“All the stages of grief are on this record,” Morgan Evans tells Apple Music. “It could have been called Stages of Grief.” Instead, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter chose Steel Town—a nod to his birthplace, Newcastle, Australia, where he returned to take stock after his 2022 split from American country singer Kelsea Ballerini. “Going through divorce is horrendous, but I think it peeled back the curtain of Nashville a lot too,” he says. “Going through [the divorce] so publicly, I was presented with the reality of where I was and what I was doing.” Referring to the album as a “journey”, it opens with his retreat to Newcastle in search of “real, tangible, non-Hollywood style things”, reflected in the uplifting country rock of the title track and the rowdy, anthemic “Beer Back Home”. From there it traverses heartbreak (“Two Broken Hearts”, “Another Drink Coming”), forgiveness (“Forgiving You for Me”) and, eventually, acceptance and healing (“The Farm”, “Letting You Go”). “The songs were very intentionally chosen because I loved them, but also because they each do a specific thing in the story,” says Evans. Here, he walks Apple Music through Steel Town, track by track. “Steel Town” “We did a show at the Sydney Opera House on the last tour, and [legendary Australian country singer-songwriter] John Williamson came and played with us. I can’t remember how he said it, but he was just like, ‘Hey, why don’t you write a song about Newcastle?’ I was just trying to find the most authentic way to sing about my hometown.” “Beer Back Home” “If ‘Steel Town’ is what the town feels like, ‘Beer Back Home’ is what the experience of being in the town feels like; to have a beer back home. It comes with all the nostalgia, the good, the bad, the heartbreak, the growing up, all the mistakes you made. This song is a celebration of all that.” “Two Broken Hearts” (with Laci Kaye Booth) “This was never written as a duet, which is crazy to think about now because it has ‘two’ in the title. When Laci [who Evans has been dating since 2024] comes in it takes the song to a whole new place. It’s a remarkably self-aware song, and the awareness almost makes it more heartbreaking.” “Another Drink Coming” “When you’re going through a heartbreak or a hard time, you’re looking for things to help you get through it. Inevitably for me, and country music and in Nashville, drinking too much is one of those. I feel like this song represents that in a fun way.” “Back to Country” (feat. William Barton) “I wanted to set the scene for ‘Land I Love’. It was something that I put together with Australian bird sounds and the ocean and wind, and a guitar motif that grew out of ‘Land I Love’. I sent that to William, and he sent that vocal part back. I was like, ‘This is magic. This is exactly what we needed.’” “Land I Love” “This feels like the most important song I’ve ever written. I feel like I have an even greater love and respect for Australia with the perspective of having lived elsewhere. I was driving from Armadale over to Byron Bay to go surfing and those lines came, and at some point during that multi-hour drive, they fit into place and I could hear the chords. This doesn’t usually happen. As soon as I pulled up into the Airbnb, I started playing the chords as I’d heard them. It felt like a gift.” “Forgiving You for Me” “This was the part of the story that was missing. It’s that realisation that forgiveness is a selfish pursuit, and that’s all right. Sometimes that’s the best way—if something’s heavy, just put it down. This song was that in real time.” “Letting You Go” “I felt like I articulated something that maybe the whole album was trying to articulate. Just the feeling of letting go. To me, this song does what the album does, but just in song form and in a musically free and lyrically free and kind of hopeful way.” “She Talks About Texas” “Going to places like Laci’s hometown of Livingston, or driving up to Waco to go to that wave pool [at Waco Surf water park], you see parts of Texas that I’d imagined from seeing cowboy movies. After the first time I went to Livingston and got back to Nashville, I sat down with a guitar and just said, ‘What happened in Livingston?’ [Laughs] That’s what the verses are. That’s a pretty accurate description of Laci’s hometown.” “The Farm” “This is the love song of the record. It’s very grounded. It’s not over the top in any way. It just feels very real and tangible. That’s what I was looking for and experiencing in my life at the time. I think that combination of the pretty music with the more grounded lyric brings this to life in a way that I haven’t in any songs before.” “Settle It Down” “What I was looking for in life at that point—just a grounding and a clearing of the bullshit. I just wanted to settle it down. Whether you’re spending too much time on the phone and not moving at all or whether you’re on a tour bus or a plane or whatever, just longing for a little bit of groundedness. Appreciating the little things a little bit more.”