Roots-Based Singer/Fingerstyle
Guitarist Cary Morin Set to Release New CD, Cradle to the Grave, January
13
FT. COLLINS, CO – Roots-based
singer/fingerstyle guitarist Cary Morin announces a January 13 release date for
his fourth CD,
Cradle to the Grave. Recorded and engineered by
Richard Werdes at Studio Underground in Ft. Collins, Colorado, the new album
completes a three-album project of acoustic recordings by Cary Morin, who’s
been acclaimed as “one of the best acoustic pickers on the scene today.” Stream
the track, “Lay Baby Lay,” here:
http://www.carymorin.com/track/1138398.
Cary
Morin will celebrate the new album with a special CD release show on January
13th at The OtterBox Digital Dome Theater in the Ft. Collins Museum of
Discovery:
http://fcmod.org/the-museum/digital-dome/.
On Cradle to the Grave,
Cary Morin brings together the great musical traditions of America and
beyond like no other artist. These recordings provide a timeline of his
songwriting and guitar work spanning 2014 to 2017. The lyrics range from blues
to folk and sometimes shine a light on his Native American Heritage and small
town life in America. At times, the collection conveys the simplicity of a
single chord to complex fingerstyle guitar. “The goal was to create a sort of
triptych of my solo fingerstyle journey, one that demonstrates the evolution of
my progression with songwriting, finger picking, and the use of open tunings,”
says Morin. “Cradle to the Grave is a culmination of my musical
efforts as a soloist thus far.”
Of the album’s 11 tracks, eight
are originals that showcase his skills as both a singer and guitar player. Also
included are three unique covers of songs that cover a wide palette ranging
from pop legend Prince (“Nothing Compares 2 U”), to noted bluesman Willie Brown
(“Mississippi Blues”) and jam-band super group Phish “Back on the
Train”).
“The title track is a bit
telling,” relates Morin. “The lyrics refer to the realization that, through all
of my travels and experiences, I have come to understand that life is fleeting.
I think you can hear this theme in the song, ‘Lay Baby Lay,’ also, though this
tune is more directly related to the experience of touring and travel and the
compromises therein. The last song, ‘Watch over Me,’ is a different take on the
title track, as though both songs are bookends for the whole album. The theme
of spirituality seems to weave its way into my work more often as the years
pass. Perhaps its impending mortality! I hope we are put on this earth to help
each other and should we find ourselves alone for some reason, there is still
someone there with us, a higher power to help us complete our journey.”
With deft fingerstyle guitar and vocals
that alternately convey melodic elation and gritty world-weariness, Morin crafts
an inimitable style often characterized as acoustic Native Americana with
qualities of blues, bluegrass, jazz, jam, reggae, and dance.
Being a Crow tribal member,
Morin brings special significance to the song, “Dawn’s Early Light,” written in
support of the efforts of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “I'm not really a
protest song sort of writer, but this song seemed important,” states Morin.
“It’s written from my memories of growing up near the Missouri River and around
my people in Montana. As a child, I became familiar with our traditional music
and rural life. This song may be an oversimplification of the situation, but I
have always felt that the honoring of a treaty, no matter when it was made, is
not a complex idea. History has proved this not to be the case, but I hope this
time it is. Honor the treaty, simple as that.”
The son of an Air Force officer,
Morin was born in Billings, Montana, and spent the bulk of his youth in Great
Falls, where he cut his teeth picking guitar standards at neighborhood
get-togethers, before relocating to Northern Colorado. There, his musical
career hit the ground running with The Atoll, a band he founded in 1989 that
toured nationally for over 20 years, gaining a devoted following. Later, he
achieved international acclaim with The Pura Fé Trio.
With The Atoll and The Pura Fé Trio, and
as a solo artist, Morin has played celebrated venues across the globe,
including the Paris Jazz Festival, Winter Park Jazz Festival, Folk Alliance
International, River People Festival, Shakori Hills Festival, the 2010
Vancouver Olympics, and most recently, Rochefort En Accords festival in France
and The Copenhagen Blues Festival, among countless others.
Morin’s stage credits also include Tribe
at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, and co-authorship of Turtle Island, a
50-member production that played two consecutive years to sold-out audiences in
Northern Colorado. With the Red Willow Dancers, he was a guest of the
internationally renowned Kodo Drummers, performing at their 1998 Spring
Festival and additional dates in Japan.
He has produced or performed on over 20
recordings, and has toured across the US, as well as Japan, France, Germany,
Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Ireland, Sweden,
and the UK. Morin’s performances have reached millions on national TV in Japan,
France, and the UK, as well as on national radio in the US (NPR’s “Beale Street
Caravan”), UK (BBC’s “Whose London”), France (RFI), Switzerland, and Belgium.
For two consecutive years (2013 and
2014), Cary won the Colorado Blues Challenge Solo Championship. He has also
been nominated for Aboriginal Entertainer of the Year and Best Blues CD in the
Aboriginal People's Choice Music Awards for three years running. In 2013, he
received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Fort Collins Music Association
(FoCoMA) and won the Colorado Fan Favorite Poll in the blues category for his
second solo release, Streamline, and favorite songwriter in
2016. Cary has won the Colorado Blues Society’s Members Choice Awards in
several categories for three years in-a-row.
In addition to his solo pursuits, Cary
Morin performs with Young Ancients, in collaboration with John Magnie and Steve
Amedée of The Subdudes.
