Morgan Evans’ sophomore album is titled Steel Town as an homage to the coastal city of Newcastle, Australia, where he grew up.
Glance at the cover, which shows him sitting at the edge of the ocean as a huge ship passes in the distance, and you’d assume that’s where the photo was taken.
With a deadline looming, however, there was no time to travel Down Under. Instead, Morgan went to Louisiana, where photographer Nick Swift was living at the time.
“We were taking photos all around town in New Orleans,” Morgan recalls. “And at the end of the day, he was like, ‘Hey, we could do a fire on the beach.’ And we went down and set up this fire on the beach and started taking some photos.”
“And he was like, ‘Oh hang on a sec, man. There’s just a ship coming through. We’ll wait till the ship passes,”” Morgan continues. “And I turned around and there’s this massive ship in a harbor next to a beach. And it was like the perfect moment. I was like, ‘Quick, get this ship!””
That proved to be the final element of a photo so convincing it’s even fooled some of the folks at home.
“I enjoy telling that story. Cause even some folks from my hometown are like, ‘It looks like it, but I can’t tell exactly where it is,’ you know?” Morgan adds.
The “Kiss Somebody” hitmaker did travel back home to shoot the video for the album’s first single, “Beer Back Home.”
The record also includes a duet with Morgan’s love interest, Laci Kaye Booth, on “Two Broken Hearts.” Steel Town is out now.
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