2005 ACL Fest Home > Reports from the ACL Festival > Archives > 2005 > September > 24 > Entry
Squeezing Cory Morrow’s muscular Texas music
Out of state visitors to the ACL Festival wishing to sample the latest iteration of Texas’ long-running fusion of country, rock and singer-songwriter acumen would have done well to park themselves by the SBC stage early Saturday afternoon, the better to sample Cory Morrow’s muscular, energetic take on what is referred to, shorthand-style as “Texas Music” (there’s lots more to the story, of course, but that’s another review).
One of the grandchildren of “Willie, Waylon and the boys,” Austin native Morrow until the last couple of years had trouble breaking out of a crowded pack that included the likes of Pat Green, Kevin Fowler (who also played on Saturday), Roger Creager and others. But with his latest album, “Nothing Left To Hide,” Morrow has found a distinctive voice and a singular artistic identity. Ironically, a whole mess of recent legal troubles have seemingly focused Morrow’s attention in a way that is already paying musical dividends.
Onstage, Morrow is voluble, and as frisky as a kid on the first day of summer. His band’s music is deceptively unadorned, as straightforward as Morrow’s uniform of unadorned T-shirt, non-designer jeans and (yep) bare feet. Songs such as the anthemic “Heart of Fire,” Light On the Stage” and his current single, “Beat of Your Heart” are solidly entertaining without ever condescending to the audience’s most easily-fulfilled expectations.
Whether soft-shoeing across the stage during Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights” (one of Morrow’s few covers) or unabashedly and good-naturedly soliciting rounds of applause from the audience (hey, he said, it’s cheap validation), Morrow’s onstage persona is sunny and inclusive. Those may not be the most resonant qualities on which to build an artistic career, but the crowd sitting in the hot sun and sipping the first beer of the day appeared to be in his pocket, out of towners and all.
Comments
By Jenn
September 28, 2005 05:21 PM | Link to this
Cory really rocked it!! He was really good!!!!!!!!!!!