Maren Morris and Brandi Carlile’s ‘Common’ Collaboration Is a Case of Good Timing
Maren Morris recorded "Common" for her sophomore album, Girl, with the help of Grammy Awards-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile -- but their collaboration wasn't planned out when Morris first wrote the song. Rather, she shares, the duet was a matter of finding the right thing at exactly the right time.
To Esquire, Morris recalls that she had recently returned home from a songwriting session in Los Angeles, Calif., with producer Greg Kurstin and songwriter Sarah Aarons. She was listening to the tracks they'd put together -- including "Common" -- at the end of a bad day when she found a package from Carlile in her mail pile: a vinyl copy of Carlile's 2018 gem By the Way, I Forgive You and a note.
“She wrote me a letter saying that she’s so thankful that her daughters are going to get to grow up in a world where there’s a woman like me in country music,” Morris shares. “I was just bawling my eyes out.”
Morris reached out to Carlile with her new song, asking if she'd be up for a collaboration, and Carlile immediately responded in the affirmative. The pair never made it to the studio together -- Carlile laid down her part in LA with Kurstin, while Morris Facetimed in for the session -- but the result was powerful, and the artists became fast friends.
“I feel like I made friends for life,” Morris shares, adding that her first dinner with Carlile and her wife, Catherine Shepherd, launched a deep connection: “We got into really deep, hours-long conversation.”
Carlile would soon tap Morris as the third member of her musical supergroup, the Highwomen. The two have been working on that project along with Amanda Shires.
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