Lee Brice just released a new song called “Cry,” and he stopped by the Taste of Country Nights studio to chat about it with Evan Paul.

Brice recalled meeting a young Morgan Wallen at Tootsie’s in Nashville, as Wallen was trying very hard to secure a record deal.

The “I Drive Your Truck” singer says, “Morgan Wallen, he was doing a showcase one time, he didn’t have anything going on. This showcase was kind of looking for a record deal kind of thing.”

Brice continued, “I heard him playing, you know, just little ol’ Tootsie’s, just playing with a band, ya know, and I grabbed him and I said, ‘Man, I just want you to know, you keep being yourself, keep doing your thing, and don’t change, and I have a feeling people are gonna love it.'”

Brice says he and Wallen then spent more than an hour chatting it up, and he saw something in the young singer that convinced him he was going to be the next big thing.

“Next thing I know, he got a record deal and got them cuts and next thing you know, he’s Morgan Wallen,” he recalls.

Morgan Wallen is currently the reigning 2024 CMA Entertainer of the Year, playing for sold-out crowds in stadiums almost every weekend.

Of course, there have been a few hiccups along the way for Wallen — a racist slur firestorm and a chair throwing incident, to name a couple — but the “More Than My Hometown” singer has not only pushed through that, but he has thrived and risen to the top in spite of them.

Let’s just say Brice has an ear for talent.