This song never fails to stop me in my tracks.
Morgan Wade released a stunning live performance video of her song “27 Club” today, which was featured on her recent sophomore studio album Psychopath.
Filmed live at a concert at the Blue Room in Nashville, Tennessee, it features Morgan and a couple of her band members on stage with just a few acoustic guitars in-hand, which is absolutely the perfect way to arrange and sing this one, in my very humble opinion.
Per the usual, Morgan’s stunning vocals take center stage and the honest, poignant lyrics shine as she addresses her mental health struggles in reference to the “27 Club” (hence the title), a commonly-used list of legendary musicians that have passed away at the age of 27, including Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse and more.
She also delivers a pretty seething line about how even though she’s found fame and success, it doesn’t magically make every struggle go away, though “at least now I’m getting paid.”
It’s already become one of those rare and special standout songs in her catalog, and I cannot wait to hear it live eventually because the studio cut alone is nothing short of spectacular.
Morgan previously told People she wrote “27 Club” in three chunks, with the last verse coming after she turned 28 in December as a way to remind herself how far she’s come and everything she has to look forward to still:
“I wrote that song in three different chunks in different times of my life. I wrote the first verse a long time ago, and then the second verse a good while ago as well. Then the last verse, I turned 28 in December and wrote that in January.
To me it was just kind of like, ‘Hey, look, you’ve made it. There’s been a lot of times in these past few years that you didn’t think you were going to continue to make it,’ especially with my mental health and my depression and everything.
And so to be able to sit there and be like, ‘Alright, I’ve got another day, I’ve had another year….’ That felt like a good way to end the record.”
Do yourself a favor and check out the live performance video below, you’ll be glad you did:
“27 Club”
