Nashville.com Official Guide To Nashville, TN
This week our Nashville Pick is Lorrie Morgan and her single – Nashville Hot Chicken.
Nashville, TENN — Recently named The Ambassador of Nashville Hot Chicken*, multi-platinum recording artist and Grand Ole Opry star, Lorrie Morgan teamed up with some other familiar Music Row faces for a song and companion video, singing the praises of Nashville Hot Chicken. The legendary dish has been called Nashville’s only indigenous food by Tennessean columnist, Brad Schmitt.
A music video for the song “Nashville Hot Chicken” features Morgan with appearances by Tracy Lawrence, Adam Warner, Jesse Keith Whitley, Rhonda Vincent, Jeannie Seely, Larry Gatlin, Pam Tillis, Darryl Worley, and Vince Gill. Not playing favorites, the video includes images and logos from a variety of establishments that serve hot chicken in the Nashville area.
“With everyone’s busy schedules, it took nearly a year and multiple studios to get everything recorded,” Lorrie Morgan says, “but it was so fun and worthwhile. I’m really grateful to my friends for sharing their time and talent.”
Co-written by Lorrie’s brother, Marty Morgan with Corey Lee Barker, the song will be available to fans and radio in the coming weeks. “Nashville Hot Chicken” sings the spicy praises of the feisty fowl feast that Nashville put on the global food map, with lyrics calling it “a bona fide, certified, fiery food addiction.”
“Anyone who knows me at all is aware that I am a fanatic over spicy hot foods, especially spicy hot fried chicken,” Lorrie says. “I have been eating this kind of chicken since I was at least five years old. I’m sure it wasn’t as spicy as I eat it now, but it was still spicy.”
Lorrie’s father, George Morgan, came upon a place that served hot chicken in the 1950s one night after playing the Grand Ole Opry. His nose led the singer “(“Candy Kisses”) to a cinderblock building on Charlotte Avenue where he discovered some serious soul food. Lorrie’s dad became a regular at Bolton Polk’s establishment, with its large, cast-iron skillets where chicken breasts and leg quarters sizzled to a golden brown in bubbling lard. The senior Morgan visited often and became one of the biggest promoters of hot chicken; even mentioning it on the Opry and urging fans to “visit the chicken shack on Charlotte.”
Nashville Hot Chicken became a staple in the Morgan home. Lorrie not only followed in her father’s footsteps in the Country Music spotlight, but became as fervent a devotee of hot chicken as her dad. She has owned hot chicken restaurants and currently licensed her own recipe to two restaurants in East Tennessee. Although Lorrie enjoys cooking up her own hot chicken, she is also a familiar face and big supporter of restaurants like 400 Degrees and Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack (where her autographed photo may still hang on the wall).
Made with dry cayenne pepper, paprika, white pepper, and other secret ingredients, Nashville Hot Chicken can be seasoned to taste; from mild to “…someone, call 911.” A few Nashville purveyors of Hot Chicken are iconic, with more eateries adopting the popular menu item, traditionally served up on white bread, and topped with dill pickles. If you want to start a debate in Nashville, no need to talk politics. Simply ask folks about their favorite hot chicken restaurant and let the debate begin.
“It was just a fun idea to turn Lorrie’s food passion into a song,” Marty Morgan says. “Hot chicken is so Nashville, and we wrote a song to celebrate its history and legacy and to tip our hat to the many people and restaurants keeping the tradition alive.”
*Lorrie Morgan was named The Ambassador of Nashville Hot Chicken by the Nashville Hot Chicken Facebook Group, which celebrates the now legendary delicacy. In addition to indulging her culinary passions, the multi-platinum recording artist is currently working on a new album with producer, Buddy Hyatt, and is also writing an autobiography.
There is so much talent that resides in Nashville along with many artists that visit Music City just trying to be heard, seen and hopefully discovered. If you would like your song or video to be considered for our Nashville Picks, submit it using our <a href=”https://www.nashville.com/artist-picks/”>Artist Picks</a> form:
