GRAMMY U Brings Maren Morris to Nashville

Courtesy of Recording Academy® Photo by Tibrina Hobson, Getty Images© 2025.

GRAMMY U hosted its annual Fall Summit in Nashville on Thursday and Friday featuring keynote speaker, Grammy Award winner Maren Morris with special opportunities for young industry professionals. 

Known for fostering connections through special events, the GRAMMY U program hosted its first ever two-part networking event at the 2025 Fall Summit which included panels, artists performances, mixers and discussions. 

The GRAMMY U Summit kicked off at the National Museum of African American Music with the “Disruptors by Design: Creating Your Sound” panel featuring Rico Nasty, Tanner Adell and Tayla Parx, who discussed breaking genre boundaries and blending diverse musical influences. 

The event closed with a Q&A with four-time GRAMMY nominee Mickey Guyton, highlighting creativity, connection and representation in today’s music industry.

On night two of the summit, Texan singer-songwriter Maren Morris, known for bringing authenticity and depth to modern country music, discussed her journey from songwriter to star, exploring creativity, growth and authenticity in a conversation moderated by artist King Princess at Riverside Revival in East Nashville. 

“Sometimes you lose people along the way. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I think it's sort of exfoliating sometimes .. people are not always going to like you. And I think as a young child-performer and people pleaser, it’s always going to be something that messed me up. But when I get up the next day, I go, and I still get on stage,” said Morris. 

Both artists also spoke candidly about coming out as part of the LGBTQ+ community, acknowledging that while sudden shifts in questions about their identities could be uncomfortable, they valued the importance of visibility and representation.

“The fact that we feel like queer people are so hungry for representation is because you know, from my experience, I just wanted someone to be gay … Which can be really taxing for the artist, but also comes from a place of depravity and feeling sad and alone and wanting to connect with the artist you love,” said King Princess. 

After further discussions on songwriting, artistry and community, the discussion ended with a time of Q&A and encouragement to the crowd, especially as young professionals emerging in the industry.

“Just say yes, especially in the beginning or like a rebirth. You just say yes to everything and just be like, ‘Yeah, cool,’ I humble myself and then everything's fun. If you just say yes to everything, I feel like it's sort of that mentality like play a million lottery tickets and see what sticks, right?” said Morris. 

Morris briefly retook the stage to perform her 2019 hit “The Bones” before the night concluded with a mixer DJ’d by Belmont student DJ Kewl Kat. 

“I liked it when Maren said, always say yes because, I'm not an artist, but just from the music business side, I feel like you have to say yes to every opportunity because it may open another door soon. I liked their perspective on their artistry too, because I'm not a creative in the industry, so I like hearing their side, and like, point of view from different ways,” said GRAMMY U student member Paige Henrich. 

More information about GRAMMY U can be found at https://www.recordingacademy.com/membership/grammy-u. 

This article was written by Samantha Graessle