From the moment her debut single “My Church” found heavy rotation on country music radio and led to her rapid rise, she hasn’t always taken the easy path. That debut single set her on a road into country music, but Morris hasn’t sat comfortably in the same stable as a lot of today’s modern artists.
With a clever knack for melody and lyrics, Morris’ pop leanings led to vocal discussions in some parts, and in many ways “My Church” wasn’t a true reflection of her musical style. Though as we’ll hear, two very key moments in her story were influenced by the likes of LeAnn Rimes and Patty Griffin.
The other side of Morris that endeared her to many but put her at odds with country music’s more conservative leanings, is her views. Her views on pretty much everything. Morris is not just happy, but passionate about speaking out against injustice and hasn’t been afraid to go against the trend in Nashville.
Her t-shirt emblazoned with “Lunatic Country Music Person” – as she was called by a Fox News host – was a best seller on her website, with over $100k going to transgender charities.
Morris’ Nine Songs selections reflect the ebb and flow of her own music, and it’s easy to hear some of the influences in her own work, such as Radiohead. “I’m more ear trained when it comes to music, I’m mostly in my head creating melodies with my voice, but what their work has done is really opening my songwriter brain to melodies that can go weird, a little dissonant and not by the book.”
Photography by Kirt Barnett
Some of the songs Morris has chosen literally changed her life, “It was songs that really made me want to move from Texas to Tennessee and write on Music Row”, she explains. “Learning how to co-write with other country songwriters and get my feet wet.”
With a focus on two specific points in time – 1996/97 and 2005 – in her song choices, that period was particularly formative for a young artist from Texas. “I support that I never graduated out of that decade. It was this really formative pocket of time for me, where I was absorbing so much. They’re still my comfort records.”
Across these nine songs and three decades of music, Morris’s selections clearly trace her influences from Texas honky-tonks to British art pop. “I think if you listen to any of my work and you saw this list it would all make sense, because there’s a lot of experimentation and soul and lyrical country storytelling in my examples.”
