Morgan Evans ‘Briefly’ Considered Leaving Nashville for Good After Divorce

Australian-born country singer Morgan Evans has always done his fair share of international travel, but in the wake of his very public divorce from fellow star Kelsea Ballerini, he seemed to be filling out more stamps in his passport than ever.

A month after his divorce news broke, the singer was on a work trip to Australia and New Zealand, playing live shows that included the landmark debut performance of his "Over for You," a breakup ballad written about the split.

The following weeks included a trip to Armidale, New South Wales to see his grandparents, more shows in the U.K. and vacation time in Morocco, and Evans then linked up with Mitchell Tenpenny for the short co-headlining Day Drunk Me Tour in Germany and the Netherlands. Evans documented his travels in a visual docuseries named after "Over for You," in which he admits that he had some trepidation about coming back to Nashville once his travels were done.

With divorce headlines and rumors buzzing back home, it's hard to blame Evans for wanting to get away from it all. But did he ever think about packing up his bags and leaving Music City for good?

"The answer might be — 'Yes, but only briefly,'" Evans replied when Taste of Country asked the question.

"I think, honestly, I probably considered everything. Yeah. I mean, massive life change," he continues, referencing a lyric in his new song, "On My Own Again," that reads "I could turn left to California, right to New York City / Hell, I could go to Mexico right now if I wanted to."

But the idea wasn't more than a passing thought, and for good reason. "I keep coming back to Nashville because I love music so much. And I love the community that makes music so much," Evans explains. "I think it'll always be a place that I come back to to be creative and surround myself with those kinds of people."

In the meantime, his new Life Upside Down EP pays homage to his nomadic streak, and the healing power of travel after a major breakup. In addition to the wanderlust of songs like "On My Own Again," the singer's travels play a role in the project's visual treatment, including its cover art. Evans' co-star in that photo is a camel named Chewbacca, whom the singer met during his vacation in the surf town of Taghazout, Morocco.

"We went down to this bay called Hash Bay to watch the sunset, and one of my camera guys, whose name's Chady, he just loves getting a deal," the singer recounts with a chuckle. "He was like, 'You guys go over there and let me negotiate with the camel guy to see if we can use him in our video.' We didn't wanna ride him, but we wanted to involve him in the video, because he was such a character."

Once Chady struck a deal with the handler, the camel joined their party for a little shoot on the beach. "We took a photo in front of the camel, and thought it would be ridiculous to dig a little chair and drink a beer and cheers," Evans says.

The experience was a chance to bring a moment of levity to a project that — despite containing some of Evans' saddest breakup songs to date — also delivers its fair share of humor and joy.

"What do you do for the cover art of something called Life Upside Down? You can't just do a straight photo, you know?" he continues. "And every time I looked at the camel video, it made me smile. It reminded me of the day. And the thought of that being the cover photo just made me laugh. So hopefully that's what it does for other people, too."