Chris Morris is a folk singer based in the Ottawa Valley.
A casually charismatic performer with a penchant for tall tales and a near exhaustive repertoire of songs to charm audiences of all temperaments, musical stalwart Chris Morris has carved out a reputation as a popular, in-demand singer/songwriter/musician on festival stages, pubs and clubs throughout Eastern Ontario.
Known for invoking an atmosphere of unbridled fun, storytelling moxy and musical dexterity to any stage, Morris brings the same level of commitment to his sometimes wildly varied set list of classic covers as he does to his bitingly clever and unabashedly authentic original material, making for a potent, must-see experience.
While it’s easiest to identify his delivery and style under the broadly inclusive Folk umbrella, Morris cites the music of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, country troubadour Hank Williams, the psychedelic mastery of The Grateful Dead and jazzy machinations of Phish as equally inspiring alongside giants of folk such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly – not to mention the iconic Bob Dylan and of course Kingston legends The Tragically Hip.
“To me, folk music is music that is accessible. Anybody can make it; anybody can play it, and you can make it almost anywhere. It doesn’t need to be old-timey; it doesn’t always need to be played by acoustic guitars and banjos. You don’t need training or pitch-perfect vocals. I believe it’s any music where you can boil it down to a couple of people sitting around a campfire in the middle of nowhere,” he said in highlighting the appeal of folk music and why it has inspired and continues to inspire and spur on his own musical journey.
“If you take folk music to its beginnings, it’s storytelling. It’s people taking these story songs from town to town, talking about the news of the day, the issues facing the common folk, stories and legends from their shared past.”
Growing up in a home where investigating the source behind the big hits of the day was encouraged and no style went unappreciated, Morris received his first guitar at age 10, and a couple of years later, after learning his first two chords, not only began playing the songs of his idols, but writing his own. Early original songs were released on now-extinct cassettes, while his true 2018 debut solo album, ‘I Know This All Too Well,’ was produced by Kingston’s Tom Savage (Tom Savage Band, Dead Root Revival).
As an original artist, Morris draws not only from the stylistic and tonal legacies of his major musical influences, but also from the world around him. Believing in his role as a storyteller, depth of meaning and emotive, imaginative lyricism is paramount in every original creation.
“The lyrics usually come first. And I seem to write a lot when I am walking my dog; when I am away from my phone and my screens and work, a line or a few lines will just pop into my head and I will work through it until I’ve got something that resembles the beginning of a song,” he said, citing one of his latest recordings, ‘If I Should Settle Down,’ from his recently released ‘All By Myself’ EP as an example.
“It was inspired by a Tweet I saw in my feed about someone taking an inter-city bus trip by themselves for the first time. So, I just put myself in that position where I am on a bus, heading south and what I see, feel, and think about along that journey. I also have a new song called Gummies, which is coming out on my next album about edibles. I wrote it because I was thinking about a modern version of the old bluegrass standard Mountain Dew which is about moonshine. I thought it would be interesting to write a similar song but about gummies, so I decided to write a quirky, old-timey folk song about gummies.”
The irreverence but also the homespun appeal of Morris’ songcraft mirrors that of his solo stage shows which are filled with a frisson of good-natured showmanship and the ability to ‘read the room,’ wrapped in a blanket of likable sincerity and seriously good vibes.
This is exemplified in another new original song, ‘Tip Jar’ which seamlessly blends the ironic worldview of Neil Young with a Billy Joel, ‘Piano Man’ scene setting sensibility.
“It’s really a song to be played live because it’s so applicable to that setting. I am almost always playing where there are wait staff who want to make tips, so it’s nice to be able to give a nod to them and remind the audience to tip their servers. And maybe I’ve also got a little tip jar out too, and as the person onstage, like in the song, sometimes I wander off into a daydream about being ‘discovered’ but then a glass falls and breaks and I am jolted back to reality,” Morris explains.
“I always joke it’s about economic prosperity through alcoholism.”
Besides his ever-bustling solo career, Morris is a founding member of the popular roots music agglomeration The Goodnight Irenes, and has been involved behind the scenes in the music business for over 20 years as a concert promoter, venue booker, booking agent, and more. He has been a key organizer of such festivals as Back to the Farm: MacKinnon Brothers Beer & Music Festival and Homegrown Live Music Festival. He has also worked with the likes of Arcade Fire, Tegan & Sara, The Weakerthans, The Trews, Serena Ryder, Bif Naked, Fred Eaglesmith and hundreds more.
Morris sees his role to not just please an audience, but partner with them in an evening that is as memorable and melodious as it is fun and interactive. He is an artist who understands the role music plays in connecting with the whole human – heart, spirit and mind – and through his live shows and recorded work, strives to build, enhance and fortify those connections.