Interview with Gregory Morris
local musician offers folk and philosophy
by Shannon L.M. Martin


Greg Morris - image by Chris Kromer

I went to see Gregory Morris open a show at Cody’s on a cold and wintry Tuesday night. I felt sure I would miss the show - we had made a late start - but when we got there we nearly had the bar to ourselves. Not for long! Folks starting trickling in until I was fairly trapped on my bar stool. No matter. I was in for a treat.
Mr. Morris is strangely captivating. Maybe it was that he reminded me of a beat poet with his hat-glasses-beard-and- piercing eyes-combo, or maybe it’s just that aura that real artists have. I don’t know. All I can say is that was one of the few bar shows I’ve been to where the musician had the full attention of his audience.
Gregory played a good combination of fan favorites (and he really has an impressive following) on a lovely acoustic guitar and some experimental songs on the mandolin. I was thrilled! Not only is the mandolin a beautiful instrument and exciting to hear, it is very rare to hear someone play it well. And Greg is a natural instrumentalist. He’s very skilled with a guitar, able to create an amazing range of sounds. His music was folk, but also rock, and blues, and a bit of New Orleans jazz, and a touch of the Latin, and some funk...His vocals were like Paul Simon meets Jethro Tull, with an edge. There’s a great timbre in his voice, unexpectedly baritone. And the lyrics are so artful and full of complexities. He’s one of the rare musicians that have both excellent instrumentals and great poetry in each song. It adds up to a very mature sound.
He sings intently, and with great vocal control. He seemed more confident on guitar than on the mandolin, but it is unusual to hear someone sing solo with only mandolin for backup, and he was doing something new. I was surprised at how many people knew all the words to his songs and were singing along until I listened to his CD a few times - definitely something to keep on rotation. I could go into a play-by-play of each song, but this time I have to say you really need to hear it for yourself. There really isn’t a way to describe how good Greg Morris really is. 
I got to sit down and chat with Gregory Morris several days after his show. We were back at Cody’s for brunch and extreme amounts of coffee. After we filled our bellies Greg let me pick his brain... and let me tell you, it’s a brain. This is one of the most intriguing and intelligent people I have met in a long time. He, the inscrutable philosopher, and I, the caffeinated writer, our conversation went a bit like this: 

X: You seem like you’ve been all over the place. How long have you been performing around here?  

GM: I’ve been performing in Cincinnati for about 7... maybe 10 years. I like Cody’s, Pleasant Perk is great... there are so many good venues and I’ve played just about every original venue except for Bogart’s. I’ll play anywhere, as long as there’s an audience. I’ll play in a back alley if there’s people to listen. 

X: What has influenced you? You have a really great sound... some have described it as Latin. 

GM: Well, I lived in Europe for five years as a kid and we travelled extensively... I don’t think I even thought about playing music seriously until I was in Spain, in the caves and the hills of Grenada. I saw Gypsies playing... the Flamenco... wow. I caught the bug. I come from Italian immigrants and seem to have a strong tie to European sensibilities. I don’t know. Sometimes I think something is just rock and roll and they [the audience] find some other influence. 

X: So the Flamenco sound... you connect with that. 

GM: Well, it’s that guitar-driven, fast-paced, minor-key. The Latin beat. I like that. I’ve been compared to Jao Gilberto. I didn’t even know who he was until I looked him up... he’s a great Portuguese musician. 

X: Some people feel they get their inspiration from outside sources... current events, et cetera. Others feel their music is very personal and it comes from what is inside. Do you find you fit into either category? 

GM: Looking at the subject matter of my songs, it seems most of my material comes from my life. I am fortunate enough to live an extremely bizarre life. Meeting so many strange people, finding odd places. And I’ve travelled, and travelling is a state of mind. definitely write from my life. But many of my songs are straight fantasy - Gypsies in France, pirates in Spain - and that seems to resonate with a lot of people. 

X: Folk music really does have this juxtaposition of real life and fantasy. How do you feel about it? 

GM: It does, it does... it’s all in the storyline. The devil is in the details and folk music is all about the details. It’s about finding Truth in what is around you. The folk storyteller is a noble thief - the best musicians are pillaging from every corner of history. It’s not always about being derivative. Art is a lie that reveals the truth. You say, “I got no right to write about those things, what do I know about it,” but I do [have that right]. Whatever gets the audience thinking or dreaming - that’s what you’re after. It doesn’t matter how you bring that about. 

X: I’ve been assuming you consider yourself a folk musician because you are such an instrumentalist. Are you okay with that? I hate to pigeonhole anyone... you have elements of many things in your songs, jazz, blues, rock and roll. 

GM: It’s cool. You don’t have too much mandolin in rock and roll (grins). I don’t want to pigeonhole myself either, but I guess it is more folk than rock. There aren’t so many stories in rock and roll anymore, just the basic desires like lust, and frustration - it’s more about an emotional state, which is fine, but folk music is more of a literate art. It’s really more about the language + music. I believe strongly in the power of language - folk music allows it to take an appropriate role.  

X: What do you read? 

GM: Unfortunately I don’t have much time to read... when I do, I like Latin poets like Pablo Neruda, Borges. I recommend Corvino’s “Invisible Cities” to everyone. I like to read poems with dual side-by-side translations, German or Spanish or French... I love languages. 

X: It seems there are two different sects in folk music right now. There’s the camp that takes a more activist role - more responsibility towards covering present -day problems. Then there are the traditionalists, the archivists, who are focusing on the roots of folk and are saying, “Not my job to be a preacher.” 
GM: That’s true. There is a tendency towards anachronism in folk music. Whether that’s real, or perceived by an audience. And there’s the power of the ballad in contemporary context. But I prefer to take the activist end. It is apparent, maybe, that I consider myself a politicized writer. I’m ultimately striving for a synthesis of sci-fi and folk. But there are too many writers who are great activists and not great musicians. You have to have both musicianship and awareness. The more nostalgic - often Irish/British/Celtic - scene seems to rely on distancing itself from politics. Absolving themselves from being involved. 

X: You’ve been around. What kind of advice would you give to younger musicians? 

GM: Don’t make the mistake of assuming it all has to be “rock and roll.” There’s so much other stuff out there and an audience for it too. Worry first about what you like to be playing, and then how and where to play it. Don’t be ashamed to be who you are on stage. Don’t worry about having sex-appeal, or an MTV image. Don’t let your art be a deception of the self. Your strength is in who you are. The folly of so many musicians is in the conspicuous production. There’s no connection between the performer and his audience. You know, you can be an excellent performer and not a great musician, and vice-versa. 

X: One last question gives me ten. Boxers or briefs? 

GM: Boxers. Used to be briefs, but boxers are more comfortable. 

X: Thank you, Gregory, for a great interview.  

GM: Thank you for interviewing me!