Megan Moroney has a No.1. hit in the country with “Am I Okay?” The song is the title track and debut single from her sophomore album, released last July. Moroney was inspired to write the song by a short-lived relationship with someone she was dating at the time.

“I was like a month in and I was like, ‘Wait, I’m actually like really happy and this is crazy,'” Moroney recalls to Audacy. “Like, what’s wrong with me? I’m usually so sad … And so, that was the sentiment that I went in with. I wrote it with Jessie Jo Dillon and Luke Laird.”

When the three sat down to write “Am I Okay?,” Moroney knew she was getting ready to hit the road with Kenny Chesne, on his Sun Goes Down Tour.

“I wanted it to feel like a stadium song,” Moroney says. “So when I was having Luke come up with the chords and stuff, I was like, ‘This needs to feel really big.’ because I want to be able to get people up even though I play pretty early. I want people up out of their seats, just like another good song for my setlist that feels like a party. And we would end the set every night with that one, and mission accomplished, I guess. But when we wrote it, it was kind of just half of authentic feelings of being like, ‘Wait, I’m actually happy. Am I okay?’ And then paired with the need for a big stadium song, and that’s how we got it.”

Moroney already has another hit at radio, with “You Had To Be There,” her collaboration with Kenny Chesney. Moroney wrote the song and gave it Chesney as a gift, on the says he will cherish forever.

“We played it like eight times in a row.,” Chesney recalls of listening to the song for the first time, while talking about the song with Moroney. “And I couldn’t believe it, because it was a true postcard, if you will, of everything we experienced on the road. The ups, the downs, the Miami trip, all of it. And the thing about it is, I didn’t know Megan when we first started on the road. I went to breakfast one time with her. I felt like, if I’m gonna be on the road with Megan all summer, I need to meet her before the first show. We met, and that was like in February, and I didn’t see her again until April.”

Over the course of the Sun Goes Down Tour, Chesney and Moroney became incredibly close, forging a friendship that will last a lifetime.

“It was just little by little, every week,” Chesney says of their bond. “Megan, along with her whole road crew, we just became really great friends. And you never know if that’s going to happen or not. So when you hear someone that went out on the road with you, that cared so much about it, and cared so much about the experience, and what it meant to them to be up there on stage. But the thing about Megan and her crew, after she got off stage and before she was onstage, they were all on the side of the stage, soaking it all in.”

Moroney will likely include “You Had to Be There” on her next album, one she is eager to share with her fans.

“Well, I can say that I’ve been in the studio a lot. I’ve been writing a lot. I’m just gonna keep the ball rolling, so I’m excited,” Moroney says. “This next set of music is a lot happier than what you would expect, but I feel like that’s just where I’m at in life. I feel like for once I’m just like, chilling.”

“I do have one really gut-wrenching song on the album,” she adds. “There’s a few sad songs still because I would never abandon my emo cowgirlness, but for the album as a whole, I definitely think it’s a lot more carefree and just like, sassy and fun, and I’m excited for everyone to hear what I’ve been working on.”

Find “Am I Okay?” and all of Moroney’s music and upcoming shows at MeganMoroney.com.

Photo CredutL CeCe Dawson