''Humble Quest'' is the third studio album by American country music singer and songwriter

Maren Morris Maren Larae Morris (born April 10, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter. While rooted in the Country music, country genre, her music also blends elements of Pop music, pop, R&B music, R&B, and Hip-Hop music, hip-hop. Born and raised in Arlingt ...

. The album was released on March 25, 2022, through Columbia Nashville. The album earned three nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, including for Best Country Album, while the lead single "

Circles Around This Town "Circles Around This Town" is a song by American country music artist Maren Morris. It was written by Morris, along with her husband Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels and Jimmy Robbins. It was released on January 7, 2022, as the lead single from Morris' ...

" was nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.

Composition and themes

Morris is a co-writer on all eleven tracks, collaborating with Sarah Aarons, Julia Michaels, Ryan Hurd, Natalie Hemby, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose. Production was handled by Greg Kurstin. In an interview by NPR, Morris explained the meaning and title of the project:

"I always thought that was such an interesting word, because it does mean that you're grounded and you don't have a big head about something – but I think that for me, over the last two years, that word has changed. I think it means you're the closest to your compass that you've ever been. It's not for public consumption of how relatable you are. ..I think taking that power back with that word is why I wrote the song "Humble Quest" – how it's going to be an ongoing conversation and journey and will probably never end. And I'm okay with that. We're all just awkwardly feeling our way through this weird world."

The song “What Would This World Do” is a tribute to Michael Busbee, the producer who worked on each of Morris’ previous records and died from brain cancer in 2019.

Release and promotion

The album's lead single "

" was released on January 7, 2022. "I Can't Love You Anymore" was released as the album's second single on September 26, 2022.

Reception

Sam Sodomsky by Pitchfork defined the album "creatively adventurous" pointing out that "the gentle approach of ''Humble Quest'' feels antithetical to the dominating trends of today’s pop music", because in the album "Morris sounds mostly pleased to be herself". Writing for ''Consequence'' Mary Siroky find out that it is "a more organic record than its predecessor; ..attributes both to the no-pressure timeline while writing the tracks and the distance from Nashville" and that the album "offers chances for longtime listeners to enjoy some of the things for which Morris has become so beloved" as of "authenticity, massive vocals, and a bit of lyrical playfulness". ''Billboard'' wrote that the production is "intimacy permeates the often subtle" witch let the "listener into different corners of her world" becoming "her most inviting work".

Accolades

Track listing

All tracks are co-written by Morris and produced by Greg Kurstin.

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes. *Rich Hinman -

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

* Ryan Hurd - background vocals * Greg Kurstin -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, bass guitar,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, electric guitar,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, percussion, piano, Wurlitzer *Bennett Lewis -

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

* Julia Michaels - background vocals on "Circles Around This Town" *

- lead vocals, background vocals

Commercial success

''Humble Quest'' makes the Guinness World Records for most first-day and first-week streams for a country album by a female artist on Amazon Music.

Charts

References

{{Maren Morris 2022 albums Columbia Records albums Maren Morris albums