|
Bio Tour Schedule News and Reviews Discography Photos Artist Website Booking Information |
|
N E W S . A
N D . R E
V I E W S
Americana Music Awards Instrumentalist of The Year Nominee GURF MORLIX Gurf has performed on the fundamental Americana records of Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier, Slaid Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jim Lauderdale, Butch Hancock, Don Walser, Blaze Foley, Peter Case, Trish Murphy, Mojo Nixon, Jimmy LaFave, Eliza Gilkyson...(the list goes on and on). In his unassuming way, Gurf Morlix has spent the majority of his life and career in the shadows -- as a top-notch producer, songwriter, and sideman, Gurf has been the "man behind the curtain" for the amazing records of the stars and legends of music. And though he's enjoyed the mystique that comes with the "behind the scenes" lifestyle, every soul he's touched has soared to incredible heights...and NOW is the time for Gurf to be recognized. -- Diamonds to Dust
The
opening track ‘Killing Time in --- Diamonds to Dust Gurf Morlix could have called this one "The Black Album" — a record that's all about death, in 11 different facets. But you know what? For all its dark textures, "Diamonds to Dust" is not morose, not at all. It's muscular and brave, full of beautiful writing, an exquisite rumination on mortality and these fragile times. Morlix, the songwriter-guitarist-producer who collaborated for years with Lucinda Williams, has been testing out these songs in his live shows for three years now — and this album (featuring guest vocals from Patty Griffin) honors the gritty, blues-tinged intimacy of that experience. Morlix is a poetic man. But he doesn't tippy-toe. That's the way to do it, if the subject is death. "Blanket" is one of the high spots, inspired in part by Morlix's respect for the grace in which Warren Zevon, a close friend, faced his own death. Although the song's hue is dark, the tone of "Blanket" is delicate, its theme grounded in humanity, its spirit all about love. In "Windows Open, Windows Closed," Morlix considers the call of death using the metaphor of a card game — "My daddy drew 62" — and then pays homage to all the players at the table. "Madalyn's Bones" is all black humor, a tune that alludes to the fate of the late Austin atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair. "Killin' Time in Texas " addresses capital punishment. And right in the middle, there is Bob Dylan's "With God on Our Side," a tune Morlix has been playing since the start of the Iraq war, an expression of his sorrow over so much death in the Middle East. — Brad Buchholz, www.austin360.com --- |
Diamonds to Dust
It's not too difficult to see why Lucinda Williams was drawn to Gurf Morlix as a producer. Whether he's balladeering with a dusty intensity or churning through fist-pumping roadhouse anthems, Morlix's rootsy Americana soundtrack, appropriately scratchy vocal presence and brilliant capacity for personal/universal songcraft is nearly the bookend to Williams' similarly and powerfully constructed alt.-country musings. Morlix even drawls his lyrics with the same laconic fervor as Williams.
On his fourth solo album, Morlix
perfects as an artist the "growl" factor that he has always
sought as a producer. With a grizzled smoothness that suggests Tom
Waits if he'd chosen to pursue his early folk troubadour direction
("Madalyn's Bones"), mixed with shades of Lucinda's bluesy
stomp ("Food, Water, Shelter & Love," "Up Against
It"), John Fogerty's chooglin' slink ("Worth Dyin'
For") and direct and indirect tributes to Bob Dylan (a timely
cover of "With God on Our Side" and the original ode
"Need You Now"). The beauty of Morlix's presentation - here
in particular and in his catalog in general - is that although his
sound may hint at a variety of other artists, his originality shines
through any superficial comparisons. – Brian Baker www.countrystandardtime.com
---
TONY NOBLES INTERVIEW WITH GURF
MORLIX - VINTAGE GUITAR
August 2007
You
answer a lot of questions with " because it sounds good."
I THINK IT'S TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE, BUT
TO ME IT HAS TO SOUND
What
faculties give you the ability to know what is cool?
I THINK EVERYBODY KNOWS WHAT THEY
LIKE. IT'S JUST A
---
Gurf Morlix Cracks Top 5 of the Americana Music Chart!
Diamonds To Dust is #2 on the Americana Music Chart this week and CLIMBING! Diamonds to Dust is Morlix's masterpiece, and one of the most important records in Americana right now. With the spirit of Warren Zevon, Blaze Foley, Jerry Garcia, and Hank Williams, this haunting record embodies everything that is Americana.
Diamonds to Dust
Time was when the name Gurf Morlix just meant cool. Quality, too, but
first and foremost, cool. “Who’s that?” someone might ask at a
show, pointing in awe at the poker-faced guitarist and harmony singer
accompanying some songwriter with a taste in sidemen as impeccable as
their own songs. “That’s Gurf Morlix,” another would answer,
perhaps with an air of incredulity that anyone would have to ask in
the first place. “Man, he’s cool,” the inquirer would enthuse.
“Cool name, too.”
Later on, Morlix’s name also become synonymous with grit and
authenticity — two words that neatly sum up the raw, ragged beauty
of every album he’s produced over the course of the last decade.
Some producers fuss over polish and perfection, but survey the likes
of such respected artists as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid
Cleaves, Mary Gauthier, Robert Earl Keen, Tom Russell and Troy
Campbell, and they’ll all tell you that you don’t hire Morlix to
get pretty; you hire him to get real. And maybe a little dirty, too;
not for nothing did Hubbard title his second Morlix-helmed album
Growl, after the producer’s prime directive to “put some growl”
on every track for maximum integrity and soul.
All of the above — cool, grit, growl, the works — still very much
apply when it comes to Morlix. But with the release of Diamonds to
Dust, his fourth and best solo album, Morlix should henceforth be
regarded as nothing less than one of the most compelling and
formidable songwriters in his adopted home state of Texas, if not in
all Americana music.
---
FISHIN’
IN THE MUDDY
Gurf Morlix
ALL
MUSIC GUIDE
Reviewer:
Thom Jurek
On
his second solo outing, guitarist, songwriter, and producer
extraordinaire Gurf Morlix (yeah, he was Lucinda Williams' guitar
player when she was still writing songs that still meant something)
throws a small curveball to those who loved his debut, Toad
of Titicaca. There's still plenty of meaty guitar and
down-to-the-bone production to keep those lovers of grease and roll
happy, but here Morlix displays his real gift for songwriting. Using
the same two cats that so rawly adorned Toad, ex-Faces keyboard player
Ian McLagan on Hammond B3 and drummer Rick Richards, Morlix weaves
tales of terror, depression, nonsense, strange stories, and allegories
in the languages of morning after blues, rough and rowdy rockabilly,
folk, country, greasy R&B, and Texas rock.
The
opener, "Torn in Two," is a shimmering, razored edge tome of
desperation and heartbreak. The acoustic guitars shimmy under the
verse until the bass drum and snares kick in with the organ and
electric guitars on the refrain: "I've got a heart that's torn in
two/everyone can see/I'm nothin' without you/my heart's been torn in
two." Morlix's trademark beer bottle slide ushers in the
interludes to devastating effect. Morlix's cosmic cowboy sensibilities
and humor are everywhere present too. On "Center of the
Universe," with jangling, ringing guitars powering the top of the
mix, Morlix runs down another's complete cluelessness. But, like Bob
Dylan's "Like a Rollin' Stone," that it resembles in tone,
the track feels good. Its anthemic rock & roll is rooted to a
killer backbeat and Morlix's chunky country rock chorded lead is sharp
as a stiletto. The shifty bluesabilly of "Big Eye" is a pure
good time quaker with Richards double timing the band and Morlix
playing his dirtiest slide guitar ever -- and that's something. It's
works come straight from the rock and blues pantheon: he's got the big
eye on you! In the turnarounds there's all kinds of noise and blurring
guitars and organs. And the beat -- it's hypnotic in its banging
glory.
Hell,
this whole record is hypnotic in its shambolic, loose-wound, grooving
glory. Just get it.
Country
blues salted with deep fried folk pop; crusty on the outside but chewy
in the middle
Full-out,
downhome blues tinged country rock that encompasses folk and folk
blues.
Produced
and played on many popular Americana albums - Worked with Lucinda
Williams, Warren Zevon, Mary Gauthier, Robert Earl Keen, Slaid
Cleaves, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, Tom Russell,
Eliza Gilkyson, Hot Club of Cowtown, Michelle Shocked, Linda McRae,
Jim Whitford, Blaze Foley, Jimmy LaFave, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch
Hancock, Ian McLagan, Beaver Nelson, Mojo Nixon, Libbi Bosworth, Jim
Lauderdale, Michael Penn, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth,
Don Walser, Jon Langford, Trish Murphy, Tom Freund, Troy Campbell, Bob
Schneider, Steve Earle, Harry Dean Stanton, Syd Straw, and many more.