R.B. Morris

R.B. Morris is a poet who writes emotionally intense songs full of ideas and unexpected word-plays and sings them in arrangements that emphasize the rhythmic interchange between words and music. There's enough country in these songs to recall literate writers like Kris Kristofferson and Guy Clark, and there's enough roots, rock and blues to make you think twice before saying singer-songwriter.

Morris has spent most of his life in Knoxville and in the mountains of East Tennessee. He grew up on old-time music rock and roll, but an older brother pointed him to other influences-Southern writers, the novels of Joyce, Arthur Rimbaud and the music of Dylan. He played his way through the clubs and honky tonks of the mountains, first in bands with old time fiddlers and then later with groups that rocked. He travelled the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe, then returned to the Appalachians, where he lived for a year in near seclusion in a primitive cabin.

For the last two years, he has been playing his music in Nashville, where he's garnered a strong following among innovative writers and singers, such as Lucinda Williams, John Prine and Steve Earle. Morris' songs reflect a range of musical styles: pop, blues, country and gospel. What holds them together and gives them their uniqueness is a provocative wit and a sense of melancholy, both of which dance a rhythmic word-play that turns these contrary tendencies into the best of friends.