Maren Morris Drops HERO: A Second Wind

By Conner Tighe

A decade ago, Maren Morris walked into a studio with a producer named Busbee and walked out with one of the best country debuts of her generation. Hero didn't just launch a career — it blurred lines between country, R&B, and pop in ways that still feel ahead of their time.

Today, Maren Morris's HERO: A Second Wind arrived via Columbia Nashville/Legacy Recordings, and it's more than a reissue. The expanded edition stretches the original 11 tracks to 20, pulling from the sessions that built the album in the first place — two full vault cuts ("We Can't Be Friends" and "Hard Liquor and Soft Rock") alongside raw demos of songs like "Sugar" and "Drunk Girls Don't Cry." These aren't polished bonus tracks tacked on for a quick cash-in. They're the room where Hero was made, cracked open.

Maren Morris has been candid about how much has changed since 2016 — a pandemic, a divorce, a public break with Nashville's mainstream, a pivot toward pop. Revisiting HERO: A Second Wind now, with all that weight behind her, makes the demos feel less like extras and more like evidence. You hear the version of her that existed before the scrutiny, before the think pieces, before the industry decided what she was supposed to be.

Busbee died in 2019. Morris said she still hears him in every track. That's reason enough to listen again.

Maren Morris HERO: A Second Wind is out now on double vinyl, CD, and streaming. She'll perform it live at the Ryman Auditorium on August 15.