Last Exit to Happyland

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Product Description Tempting as it may be, don't just judge Gurf Morlix by the company he keeps, even if it does provide a fine starting point: eminent musical artists like Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Warren Zevon, Ian McLagan, Patty Griffin, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Penn, Buddy Miller, Mary Gauthier, Tom Russell, Jim Lauderdale and Slaid Cleaves, to name but a few. Instead, listen to Last Exit to Happyland, his fifth solo album, and understand why his blue-ribbon associations as a producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist have led Morlix to a similar level of excellence as a singer, songwriter and artist in his own right. As critic Henry Cabot Beck notes on .com, 'If anybody is still looking for a candidate to replace Robbie Robertson in The Band, look no further. Morlix can write, sing, produce, and play nearly every instrument (mostly stringed) and has a bottomless (albeit muddy) range of American musical idioms from which to draw.' Through more than four decades of professional music endeavors, Morlix has distinguished himself with his innate musicality, exquisite taste, keen creative instincts, and well-honed ear for not only songwriting but also the elements that bring songs to their fullest fruition. And now, on Last Exit to Happyland, 'I've found my voice, and my albums just keep getting better and better all the time,' Morlix says. 'I'm really proud of these songs and this album.' The album is a showcase for Morlix's gifts as a musician and producer as well as his finest moment yet as a writer and singer. He plays everything on it but the drums, which are ably handled by Rick Richards, who has manned the kit on many of Morlix's productions in recent years. Icing the cake are Patty Griffin, Barbara K (of Timbuk 3 fame) and rising Texas singing sensation Ruthie Foster, who contribute harmony vocals to a number of tracks. As with all that Morlix has produced and played over the years, every note and creative touch ultimately serves the songs. And his trademark grit, soulfulness and authenticity suffuse the album, representing the 'muddy,' as Morlix calls the junction where the varied strains of American roots music meet and mingle, at it's truest and finest. Last Exit to Happyland is peopled with characters 'headed to reckoning day,' as Morlix sings in the propulsive opener, 'One More Second.' The swampy bomp of 'Walkin' to New Orleans' finds a Crescent City resident heading home into the deadly wind and rain of Hurricane Katrina, while the haunting country-blues 'Crossroads' reveals new wrinkles in Robert Johnson's fateful meeting with the devil. Whether it's longtime lovers at the 'End of the Line,' a traveler on a 'Hard Road' or an outcast who laments 'I Got Nothin',' Morlix captures their emotional essence. 'Drums From New Orleans' takes listeners back to the radio signals that inspired Morlix as a youngster, and he pays tribute to his late friend and musical cohort Blaze Foley - also the subject of Williams' 'Drunken Angel' - on 'Music You Mighta Made,' which echoes Foley's musical and songwriting style. On 'She's a River,' a beloved woman becomes a wonder of nature. And the stark 'Voice of Midnight' examines life's final moments in a perfect grace note to a collection of songs that compares favorably to any other created by the many artists who have called on Morlix to help them make the most of the their music. Prior to embarking on his own career, Morlix was likely best-known for his 11-year creative partnership with Lucinda Williams as her guitarist, band leader and backing vocalist as well as the producer of two of her classic, critically-acclaimed albums: her 1988 breakthrough Lucinda Williams and 1992's Sweet Old World. His work with Williams led him to produce multiple recordings for Hubbard (four albums), Cleaves (three albums and an EP with a fourth album soon to be released) and two albums each with Keen and Gauthier, as well as discs by Russell, McLagan, Butch Hancock, Hot Club of Cowtown, The Setters (Alejandro Escovedo, Michael Hall and Walter Salas-Humara) and others. Morlix's varied musical activities include touring with Zevon, Penn and B.W. Stevenson, playing guitar in McLagan's Bump Band, and singing, playing and producing an album with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, a gospel collaborative of noted Austin talents. Among the many artists he has performed and recorded with are Eliza Gilkyson, Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris, Michelle Shocked, Robert Plant, Jimmy La Fave, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Mojo Nixon, Jerry Lee Lewis, Peter Case, Bob Neuwirth, Don Walser, Jon Langford, Steve Earle, Harry Dean Stanton, Syd Straw, Billy Swan, Charlie Sexton, Victoria Williams, James McMurtry, Sonny Landreth, Doyle Bramhall, Flaco Jimenez, Steve Forbert, Bill Kirchen, Lazy Lester, Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, Kevin Welch, C.C. Adcock, John Prine, Dave Alvin, to name some but hardly all. Music captured Morlix's imagination from a very early age growing up in Buffalo, New York, as he soaked up the many sounds to be found on the airwaves. On hearing the Everly Brothers singing 'Cathy's Clown' for the first time, Morlix found his mission in life. 'It was like, 'That's what I want to do!' It was earth-shattering music to me, really amazing.' After seeing the Beatles make their U.S. debut on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' his fate was sealed. Starting out on bass and moving to guitar, Morlix was playing professionally by his mid-teens (his longtime friend Peter Case made his stage debut between sets by Morlix's band). Mastering new sounds and new instruments became a lifelong pursuit when he heard the steel guitar on Bob Dylan's 'Lay Lady Lay' - he got himself one and then joined a country band to learn how to play it. The band members turned him on to country icons like Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, who remain indelible influences. By the time Morlix finished high school and struck out to play music in such warmer climes as, first, Key West, and then in 1975, Austin, Texas, he had a rich musical vocabulary that included rock, country, blues, folk and R&B, and a growing yen to create music in a place where all of them met and intermingled. During his first stint in Texas, dividing his time between Austin and Houston, Morlix played in a band with kindred souls Buddy and Julie Miller, toured with Stevenson (known for his hits 'My Maria' and 'Shambala'), worked with Texas cult legend Foley, and made his recorded debut playing bass on Eric Taylor's Shameless Love album. In 1981, he moved to Los Angeles and fell in with neo-country and roots artists like Dwight Yoakam, Lauderdale and the Millers, and also finally met Williams, who had played the same circuit as Morlix in Texas. He also toured with Zevon and Penn (and can be heard playing steel guitar on Penn's Free for All album), briefly reunited with Case as a member of The Plimsouls (and also sang on Case's solo debut), and recorded four tracks with Jerry Lee Lewis for the Great Balls of Fire soundtrack album. In 1991 Morlix returned to Texas, settling into a house outside Austin where he installed his Rootball studio at the end of the 1990s. In addition to offering his production clients a comfortable place to make their records, having the home studio led Morlix to start making albums of his own. He'd been writing songs for years, and holding his creations to the same high standards set by the songs of those he worked with. As the '90s came to a close he finally felt he had a strong enough set of songs to strike out on his own. 'I had the studio, so everybody started asking me: Well, when are you going to make a record? Then Buddy Miller made his first record [on which Morlix played guitar, bass, sang and co-wrote a song], so I made one,' he explains. In between sessions at Rootball with his clients on which he produces, engineers, masters and plays a range of instruments, Morlix cut his first solo release, Toad of Titicaca, in 2000. The Austin Chronicle hailed it as 'a fine solo debut,' and noted Review The body count s lower on this one, Gurf Morlix quipped darkly a few months back when describing his just-finished follow-up to 2007 s outstanding, death-steeped Diamonds to Dust. And sure enough, apart from the victim in One More Second a gripping crime-of-passion tale recounted in terrifying slow motion and a pair of tributes to late friends (Blaze Foley on Music You Mighta Made and Ian McLagan s wife, Kim, on Voice of Midnight ), the living outnumber the dead on Last Exit to Happyland. But happy-go-lucky it s not; Last Exit is even bleaker than its predecessor and every bit as powerful. The aforementioned One More Second and Voice of Midnight, which open and close the disc, are the real highlights each hitting the heart and gut from completely different angles. But there s no shortage of other great moments here from the spooky wailing of Ruthie Foster throughout Drums from New Orleans, to the bittersweet, soaring chorus of End of the Line. Best of all, though, is Morlix s wicked, razor-sharp wit, which hits the bull s eye on the final line of Crossroads : I know some people who sold their souls to the devil/and they don t sound nothin like Robert Johnson. On second thought, better change that body count to off the charts. --Richard Skanse, Texas Music MagazineGurf Morlix s Last Exit to Happyland 02.10.2009 | Gurf Morlix is the musical equivalent of a Swiss army knife. He produces, writes, sings and plays just about every instrument known to man. If his name doesn t ring any bells, there s a good chance that you haven t been looking through the liner notes of your favorite albums by Slaid Cleaves, Mary Gauthier, Ray Wylie Hubbard and of course Lucinda Williams. His latest album, Last Exit to Happyland calls on the skills of a few musical friends but easily stands on its own as a thoughtfully created piece of work. The album, filled with songs about people headed for the reckoning day, opens with the tune One More Second before moving to the first of two New Orleans inspired songs. Walking To New Orleans is the story of a Big Easy resident arriving home to the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. The other is Drums of New Orleans, to which Ruthie Foster adds her sublime wailing. Music You Mighta Made is a tribute to Morlix s buddy and Austin folk legend, Blaze Foley with mutual friend Barbara K of Timbuk3 providing supporting vocals. Ian McLagan and his late wife Kim (who passed away in a car accident in 2006) also get a heartfelt nod in Voice of Midnight which features Patty Griffin. Patty, who also appears on two other tracks, She s A River and I Got Nothin , offsets Gurf s gravel-filled growl perfectly. Last Exit to Happyland will be released on Rootball Records on February 17. --Uncommon Music - uncommonmusic.org