Megan Moroney Needed a Pre-CMAs Pep Talk From Old Dominion

Even the most confident artists get pre-show jitters.

Ever since Old Dominion enlisted Megan Moroney to join them for "Can't Bring Up Now" earlier this year, the band has had nothing glowing things to say about Moroney's expertise and musical intuition.

"She's just a really unique artist," the group's Matt Ramsey explained to Taste of Country Nights ahead of the 2023 CMA Awards, where Old Dominion and Moroney will perform a live version of the song.

"We like how confident she is, in herself and her sound and what she wants to say," Ramsey gushes. "She's a great songwriter. An actual unique voice, [who] we just thought would be really cool to add to what we had going on."

All the musical self-confidence in the world doesn't make it easy for a new artist to take the CMAs stage for the first time, though, and Moroney's star has risen quickly.

This marks her first year as a nominee or as a performer. Before the show, she admitted to Taste of Country Nights that she was feeling nervous about being part of Country Music's Biggest Night.

"Nervous for sure, but excited. Excited nerves," Moroney says. "I was a red carpet host last year for the CMA Awards, so, I was nervous to do that. If you could scale that [up] and just imagine how I'm feeling to be nominated and perform, that should tell you. But I'm looking forward to it."

Fortunately, she's not alone: She's got veteran country act Old Dominion by her side, a group that's not only performed multiple times on the awards show stage, but have also won CMA Vocal Group of the Year for the past five years running.

"I'm performing with them, and Matt knows — he called me because he found out I was pretty nervous about it," Moroney recounts. "He called me and was like, 'It's fine! Everything's fine!' I'm like, 'You know what, you're right. It's fine.'"

Now, Moroney's trying to strike a balance between being prepared and staying relaxed. "I'm just gonna go with the flow with everything," she relates. "Obviously, we've practiced and done all the things. But now I'm just gonna try not to think too much about anything."

The 2023 CMA Awards are set to air on Wednesday (Nov. 8) at 8PM ET on ABC. The show will take place live at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

*Remember: The best way to watch the CMAs is on ABC, with ToC on your phone.