Live and Local - Mat Morriss
The first time I saw Matt Morriss play, I got him wrong.
He got up there at the open mic night at Ploughman’s and I thought, “oh man… another damn Dave Mathews…”
You know what I mean, if you think about it… aggressive, lot of “chukka chukka” muted chords, then seven different voicings of a c chord…really percussive, then a garbled, growled lyric that doesn’t mean anything…then more chukkas…
You know…90s music for white guys who played golf, wore pastel polo shirts, and smoked cigars, and were very cut throat in their corporate aspirations.
People who went on to vote for Bush.
Twice.
You may not agree with me…hell, you may have been one of them. But either way, you know what I’m talking about, and it makes the fluid in my eyeballs curdle to even think about it.
But as I said, not for the first time or the last, I was wrong. By his second song, my eyeballs had liquified again as he rumbled into Jethro Tull’s Aqualung, which, as anyone can tell you, is ambrosia for the soul. And it wasn’t just the radical improvement in musical choice that changed my mind; it was the fact that, yeah, he could throw his guitar a beatin’, but that wasn’t all he could do with that thing with the funky inlays… he could actually play it, too. More than that, Boy Howdy, he could bring it.
I ordered another cider and settled in. I look forward to opportunities to say “Boy howdy”
He only played three or four songs, being an open mic set and not a gig. But I heard him a few more times at open mic, and found that he had an encyclopedic set of songs under his fingers, and a voice like… well, dare I say it, like Paul Rogers from Bad Company. Not only that, but he duetted with the incomparable Ann of GerryOwen bartending fame, doing a bowie tune that had her husband and I crooning out from the back like idiots (which we are). It was a great night.
So when he was doing his own set at Ploughmans for a gentle Thursday, I couldn’t imagine why everyone in Adam’s County wouldn’t be there. And this time, I was right.
His set shows what a vast set of songs he has ready to go (he’s no Ben Wenk in that area, but no one is; Still, he’s in the ballpark). He did about ½ and ½ covers and original songs, and his original songs are well written and diverse and consistently interesting. Songs I’ve heard a couple of times, I find I already know when they come up. Aside from being a formidable guitarist and singer, he’s a great showman and you want to hear more, and don’t even care if he’s covering something you know, or playing his own. You don’t “need” something you recognize as sometimes happens with songwriters with a smaller pallet. He’s comfortable with being heckled in the way pros are, and when he’s done, you’ll be checking facebook to see where he’s playing next. Even if DMB makes you want to bang your head on the bar.
PS: if you see him, get a sticker. Matt designed it with the masterful Jim Bargas. If I ever get good enough at anything such that I need a logo, you can bet your pastel polo shirted ass it’s going to be designed by Jim Bargas.
Go and see Matt. And if you do, tell him Tom says he should play more Counting Crows.