Alex Warren and Megan Moroney Put Songwriting Before Genre at a Sold-Out United Theater

The most telling moment of Friday’s sold-out show at Los Angeles’ United Theater on Broadway came before anyone sang a note. Alex Warren and Megan Moroney, the first pairing of the night in Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians series, sat down with host James Austin Johnson to talk about what a country credit actually means in 2026.

Both arrived with debut albums that moved real numbers. Moroney’s Cloud 9, released in February, debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. Warren’s Wildchild, out in August, topped Top Albums Sales and Vinyl Albums and reached Number Two on the Billboard 200. Moroney describes her sound as “emo-cowgirl”; Warren builds pop, rock and folk into anthems. Johnson called it a hot streak, which was accurate and slightly beside the point.

Warren was the more forthcoming of the two, explaining that “Ordinary” was written for his wife. “I want to be able to say everything that I felt and send her the song,” he said, adding that he never anticipated hearing it at weddings and funerals alike.

Moroney pushed back on the idea that country’s commercial peak demands a decision. “I’ve always just tried not to even focus too much on genres,” she said, describing her songwriting as the priority and the instrumentation as a separate question. She then performed the breakup song “Medicine” with acoustic guitar and percussion, and followed it with a track written for her niece, played on a sparkling pink guitar.

Don Toliver and Malcolm Todd were also on the bill. But the evening’s argument belonged to the two who opened it: genre is a category, and the song is the thing that travels.