In April, Morgan Wallen was forced to cancel a Mississippi concert at the last minute. He explained at the time, “After last night’s show, I started losing my voice,so I spent the day resting up, talking to my doctor, and working through my vocal exercises, trying to get better. I really thought I’d be able to take the stage and it kills me to deliver this so close to showtime, but my voice is shot and I am unable to sing.”
There was some backlash to that: He was accused of being too drunk to perform, while one fan demanded an extensive list of refunds from the singer. It sure looks like Wallen wasn’t lying about his voice issues, though: Today, May 9, he shared a video announcing that on the advice of his doctors, he’s going on vocal rest for six weeks, meaning that some of his upcoming concerts and appearances will be rescheduled or canceled.
Find a transcript of the video below.
“What’s going on, y’all? I’m just going to go ahead and get straight to it. I got some bad news from my doctors at the Vanderbilt Voice Center yesterday. After taking ten days of vocal rest, I performed three shows last weekend in Florida, and by the third one, I felt terrible. So I went in and got scoped yesterday, and they told me that I re-injured my vocal cords and that I have vocal fold trauma.
Their advice is that I go on vocal rest for six weeks, so that’s what I’m going to do. They want me not to talk at all, but they said if I need to, it’s OK to for something like this. I also tore my LAT while we were in Australia; I’ve been trying to work through that quietly, but this time off is going to help me get that back right as well.
We are working on rescheduling all the dates during this time frame. We’ve almost got that done, but some of them are pending, so I’ll keep you updated. I won’t be able to make these festivals that I have during this time frame, but we are going to make those right next year.
I won’t be able to do the ACM [Academy Of Country Music] Awards or Lifting Lives event, but y’all make sure you still go: it’s for a great cause.
They told me that if I do this the right way, I’ll get back to 100 percent, and they also said that if I don’t listen and I keep singing, then I’ll permanently damage my voice. So for the longevity of my career, this is just a choice I had to make. I hate it. But I love you guys, and I appreciate all the support that you always give me. I’ll see you soon and I’ll be back better than ever. God bless you.”