Who are Morgan Wallen's parents? Singer's mother defends her son after Nashville council members denied bar sign request

American singer Morgan Wallen's mother took to Instagram to defend her son after his bar sign request got denied by the Nashville Metro Council. On an Instagram post uploaded by Country Chord on May 22, Wallen's mum Lesli Wallen commented,

"Way to go Morgan, the city of Nashville says 'Thank you for all of your help bringing in millions of revenue.'"

Morgan Wallen's mother reacted to Nashville Council's decision, (Image via @countrychord/Instagram)

The second slide of the Country Chord's post had a screenshot of a story that Morgan reportedly posted. It showed the aerial view of the city’s 69,000-capacity Nissan Stadium where his show happened.

In the post, shared by Country Chords, the caption read,

"@morganwallen throws shade at the Nashville Metro council members for voting against the aerial encroachment construction..."

Morgan's parents Lesli and Tommy Wallen have played a significant role in his career as a country musician, as reported by PEOPLE. Lesli and Tommy got married in 1991, and Morgan was one of their four children. While Tommy was a preacher, Morgan Wallen's mother Leslie was an elementary school teacher.

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Country musician Morgan Wallen's family explored after his mother defended him on social media

Morgan Wallen born in 1993 is the only son of Lesli and Tommy Wallen. He has three sisters: Ashlyne, Mikaela, and Lacey. PEOPLE reported in an article published in April, that both Lesli and Tommy were music-loving people, and hence, played important roles in Morgan's life as a musician. The couple met in 1978 and got married about 13 years later.

The Wallen kids were raised by Tommy and Lesli in Sneedville, before the family shifted to Knoxville. While the three older kids were raised in Sneedville, Lacey arrived in the family in Knoxville, through foster care. In June 2023, Lesli posted on Instagram about her retirement, however, also stated that it was just a break for her before jumping to "career number 2."

In an interview with The Boot, in 2018, Morgan spoke about how supportive his parents have been. He added—

"They never held me back, and they never made me feel crazy at all for doing this. That's been a blessing."

He started his journey in country music back in 2014 and has faced many ups and downs since then. However, he had expressed his gratitude to his family, and mostly to Lesli and Tommy. In an Instagram post dated February 22, 2019, he wrote,

"This morning I got a chance to bring them both to that same show (The Today Show) to watch us perform. Life is a crazy thing. I wouldn’t be anywhere without you both and the sacrifices you’ve made. I love you both so much."

In another Instagram post of Morgan which was made to honor Lesli and Tommy's 25th anniversary, the singer wrote how big of an influence they were in his life. Morgan Wallen had always seemingly adored his parents' relationship. In 2021, Morgan told PEOPLE that he wanted a similar relationship and a family like his parents had.

Morgan Wallen is now in a co-parenting situation with his former fiancée KT Smith. They have a child together, who was born in 2020.

Among several hit songs that Morgan has given, over the years, he released a song in 2022, dedicated to his mother Lesli. His Thought You Should Know was meant to thank her for the care and love that she bestowed on him.

Morgan has repeatedly mentioned how music was a part of their household. This also made his parents make him participate in The Voice, in 2014. Prior to that, the Wallen children would also sing for the church choir. Talking about music and family, Morgan told Billboard last year,

"We’ve always been super, super tight. We grew up in church singing hymns and stuff and learning how to harmonize with each other and sing three-part harmony."

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The council defended their decision by citing previous controversies of the singer

Recently, Morgan Wallen was denied the installation of a new sign for his bar, by the members of the Nashville Metro Council. This decision was reportedly taken primarily because of the previous controversies Morgan found himself in. The bar's opening was then postponed for some unspecified reasons.

The new bar was expected to open on Memorial Day, however, no further update has been revealed as of now. Councilwoman at Large Delisha Porterfield was one of the prime people who pointed out the past controversies of the singer. According to Porterfield, she didn't want to vote for a person who could use racial slurs and be aggressive.

The singer was reportedly taken into custody on three felony charges of reckless endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. This was the incident that Porterfield referred to when she cast her vote against Morgan Wallen's sign for his new establishment.