Gurf Morlix
Encyclopedia
Gurf Morlix is an American
multi-instrumentalist
, vocalist, songwriter and record producer
residing for many years in Austin, Texas
. He has worked with many of the best known performers of Americana
and alternative country
music. His most notable works include albums by Lucinda Williams
, Robert Earl Keen
, Mary Gauthier
, Ray Wylie Hubbard
, and Slaid Cleaves
. The instruments that he plays include guitar
, bass
, mandolin
, mandocello
, dobro
, pedal steel, Weissenborn
, banjo
, harmonica
, and drums
. Gurf is a member of the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame (2004) and the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame (2005), and is the Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year for 2009.
, in both Austin
and Houston. Moving to Los Angeles
in 1981, he met up with Lucinda Williams
, a fellow Texas-based musician who had also moved there. He became her accompanist for 11 years (1985 to 1996) and produced two of her records: Lucinda Williams
and its follow-up, Sweet Old World
. Morlix was involved in the prliminary work on her next project, but eventually left in frustration at the repeated delays in the release of Lucinda's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
album - the album being finally released in 1998, produced by Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. In 1990 he accompanied Warren Zevon
on tour. He relocated back to Austin in 1991.
Additional credits include work with Warren Zevon
, Buddy Miller
, Julie Miller
, Ian McLagan
, Eliza Gilkyson
, Jimmy LaFave
, Jimmie Dale Gilmore
, Mojo Nixon
, Jim Lauderdale
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Michael Penn
, and many others.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, vocalist, songwriter and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
residing for many years in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. He has worked with many of the best known performers of Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
and alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
music. His most notable works include albums by Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
, Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen, Junior is an American Texas Country singer-songwriter. He is popular with fans of traditional country music, folk music, college radio, and alt-country. Keen currently resides in Kerrville, Texas and maintains a ranch in Medina, Texas.-Early life:Growing up in Houston, Texas,...
, Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier is an American folk singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Gauthier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana...
, Ray Wylie Hubbard
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Ray Wylie Hubbard is an American Texas Country singer and songwriter.-Early life:Hubbard grew up in southeastern town of Hugo, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in south Dallas, Texas in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey, who had his own band at the time...
, and Slaid Cleaves
Slaid Cleaves
Slaid Cleaves is a singer-songwriter born in Washington, D.C. and raised in South Berwick, Maine and Round Pond, Maine. An alumnus of Tufts University, where he majored in English and philosophy, Cleaves lives in Austin, Texas....
. The instruments that he plays include guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, mandocello
Mandocello
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It has eight strings in four paired courses, tuned in 5ths like a mandolin, but is larger, and tuned CC-GG-dd-aa . It is to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.-Construction:Mandocello construction is similar to the...
, dobro
Dobro
Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
, pedal steel, Weissenborn
Weissenborn
Weissenborn or H. Weissenborn is a brand of lap slide guitar manufactured by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s....
, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, and drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. Gurf is a member of the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame (2004) and the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame (2005), and is the Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year for 2009.
Career
Originally from Buffalo, NY, Gurf moved to Texas in 1975 and initially performed with Blaze FoleyBlaze Foley
Michael David Fuller , better known under the stage name Blaze Foley, was an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:...
, in both Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and Houston. Moving to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 1981, he met up with Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
, a fellow Texas-based musician who had also moved there. He became her accompanist for 11 years (1985 to 1996) and produced two of her records: Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams (album)
-Track listing:All songs written by Lucinda Williams except where noted.#"I Just Wanted to See You So Bad" – 2:25#"The Night's Too Long" – 4:15#"Abandoned" – 3:45#"Big Red Sun Blues" – 3:27#"Like a Rose" – 2:37#"Changed the Locks" – 3:39...
and its follow-up, Sweet Old World
Sweet Old World
-Track listing:All songs written by Lucinda Williams except where noted.#"Six Blocks Away"#"Something About What Happens When We Talk"#"He Never Got Enough Love" #"Sweet Old World"#"Little Angel, Little Brother"#"Pineola"...
. Morlix was involved in the prliminary work on her next project, but eventually left in frustration at the repeated delays in the release of Lucinda's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the 1998 album by singer-songwriter and guitarist Lucinda Williams, her fifth professional release. Issued by Mercury/Polygram Records, it was recorded in Nashville and Canoga Park, California...
album - the album being finally released in 1998, produced by Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. In 1990 he accompanied Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
on tour. He relocated back to Austin in 1991.
Solo works
- Toad Of Titicaca (Catamount Records, 2000)
- Fishin' in The Muddy (Catamount Records, 2002)
- Cut 'N Shoot (Blue Corn Music, 2004)
- Diamonds To Dust (Blue Corn Music, 2007)
- Birth To Boneyard (Rootball, 2008) [an instrumental version of Diamonds To Dust]
- Last Exit To Happyland (Rootball, 2009)
- Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream (Rootball, 2011)
Other works (selected)
For a more complete discography see the Gurf Morlix page at www.gurfmorlix.com- Peter CasePeter Case (album)Peter Case was the debut album by American power pop singer-songwriter Peter Case, released in 1986 on Geffen Records. The album was produced by J. Henry "T-Bone" Burnett andMitchell Froom...
, Peter CasePeter CasePeter Case is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who has had a wide-ranging career ranging from new wave music to folk rock to solo acoustic performance.-Early career:...
, (Geffen RecordsGeffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, 1986) - Lucinda WilliamsLucinda Williams (album)-Track listing:All songs written by Lucinda Williams except where noted.#"I Just Wanted to See You So Bad" – 2:25#"The Night's Too Long" – 4:15#"Abandoned" – 3:45#"Big Red Sun Blues" – 3:27#"Like a Rose" – 2:37#"Changed the Locks" – 3:39...
, Lucinda WilliamsLucinda WilliamsLucinda Williams is an American rock, folk, blues and country music singer and songwriter. She recorded her first albums in 1978 and 1980 in a traditional country and blues style and received very little attention from radio, the media, or the public. In 1988, she released her self-titled album,...
, (Rough TradeRough Trade RecordsRough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
/KochKoch RecordsE1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is the largest independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal...
, 1988) - Sweet Old WorldSweet Old World-Track listing:All songs written by Lucinda Williams except where noted.#"Six Blocks Away"#"Something About What Happens When We Talk"#"He Never Got Enough Love" #"Sweet Old World"#"Little Angel, Little Brother"#"Pineola"...
, Lucinda Williams, (Chameleon, 1992) - The Setters, The Setters, (Watermelon/Blue Million Miles, 1992)
- Gringo HoneymoonGringo HoneymoonGringo Honeymoon is an album by Texas-based folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, released in the United States in August 1994 on Sugar Hill Records....
, Robert Earl KeenRobert Earl KeenRobert Earl Keen, Junior is an American Texas Country singer-songwriter. He is popular with fans of traditional country music, folk music, college radio, and alt-country. Keen currently resides in Kerrville, Texas and maintains a ranch in Medina, Texas.-Early life:Growing up in Houston, Texas,...
, (Sugar Hill, 1994) - Eats Away The Night, Butch HancockButch HancockButch Hancock is a country/folk music recording artist and song writer. He was born July 12, 1945 in Lubbock, Texas. Hancock is a member of The Flatlanders along with Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, but he has principally performed a solo career....
, (Sugar Hill, 1995) - Louisiana Rain, Teddy Morgan, (Antone's, 1996)
- Look Up, Bob NeuwirthBob NeuwirthBob Neuwirth is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A...
, (Watermelon, 1996) - No Angel Knows, Slaid CleavesSlaid CleavesSlaid Cleaves is a singer-songwriter born in Washington, D.C. and raised in South Berwick, Maine and Round Pond, Maine. An alumnus of Tufts University, where he majored in English and philosophy, Cleaves lives in Austin, Texas....
, (PhiloPhilo RecordsPhilo Records was a short-lived record label founded in 1945 by the brothers Eddie, Leo, and Ira Messner. Later its name changed to Aladdin Records. There was another Philo Records, founded by Bill Schubart and Michael Couture in Vermont. It is still active under the ownership of Rounder Records....
, 1997) - PicnicPicnicIn contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
, Robert Earl Keen, (AristaArista RecordsArista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
, 1997) - Walking DistanceWalking Distance (album)Walking Distance is an album by Texas-based folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen, released in the United States in 1998 on Arista Records.-Track listing:All tracks written by Robert Earl Keen, except where noted#"Down That Dusty Trail" – 3:39...
, Robert Earl Keen, (Arista, 1998) - Car Wheels on a Gravel RoadCar Wheels on a Gravel RoadCar Wheels on a Gravel Road is the 1998 album by singer-songwriter and guitarist Lucinda Williams, her fifth professional release. Issued by Mercury/Polygram Records, it was recorded in Nashville and Canoga Park, California...
, Lucinda Williams, (MercuryMercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, 1998) - Broke Down, Slaid Cleaves, (Philo, 2000)
- Best of British, Ian McLaganIan McLaganIan McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
, (Gadfly, 2000) - Poison In The Well, Jim Whitford, (self-released, 2000)
- Ah-Haa! Goes Gras, Rod Moag, (Textracs, 2000)
- Eternal & Lowdown, Ray Wylie HubbardRay Wylie HubbardRay Wylie Hubbard is an American Texas Country singer and songwriter.-Early life:Hubbard grew up in southeastern town of Hugo, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in south Dallas, Texas in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey, who had his own band at the time...
, (Philo/RounderRounder RecordsRounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
, 2001) - Gravitational ForcesGravitational ForcesGravitational Forces is an album by Texas-based country/folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen. It was first released in the United States on August 7, 2001 on Lost Highway....
, Robert Earl Keen, (Mercury/Lost Highway, 2001) - Borderland, Tom RussellTom RussellThomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
, (Borderland, 2001) - Holiday Sampler EP, Slaid Cleaves, (Philo, 2001)
- Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, Imperial Golden Crown HarmonizersImperial Golden Crown HarmonizersThe Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers are a non-denominational all-inclusive soulful funky gospel band that passes all revenues to charity. The band has raised several thousands of dollars over the years for central Texas charities, such as the SIMS Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.IGCH...
, (Catamount, 2001) - Ghost Train, Hot Club of Cowtown, (HightoneHighTone RecordsHighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...
, 2002) - Filth & Fire, Mary GauthierMary GauthierMary Gauthier is an American folk singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Gauthier was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Given up at birth by a mother she never knew, Gauthier was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, Louisiana...
, (Signature Sounds, 2002) - Cryin' Out Loud, Linda McRaeLinda McRaeLinda McRae is a Canadian rock and alternative country musician.-Career:McRae was a member of platinum folk rock band Spirit of the West from 1988 to 1996. A multi-instrumentalist playing accordion, guitar, bass, and banjo she also appeared as a guest musician on The Wonder Stuff's album Never...
, (Black Hen, 2002) - Fortune Wheel, Ivan BrownIvan BrownIvan Elmore Brown was an American bobsledder who competed in the 1930s. He won the gold medal in the two-man event at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.-References:*...
, (Tin Foil, 2002) - Jason Eklund, Jason Eklund, (self-released, 2002)
- Growl, Ray Wylie HubbardRay Wylie HubbardRay Wylie Hubbard is an American Texas Country singer and songwriter.-Early life:Hubbard grew up in southeastern town of Hugo, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in south Dallas, Texas in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High School with Michael Martin Murphey, who had his own band at the time...
, (Philo/Rounder, 2003) - Burnt Tongues and Blue Truths, Eric Westbury, (Barreltown, 2003)
- American Breakdown, Troy Campbell, (Loudhouse, 2003)
- McKay Brothers, McKay Brothers, (Texas Archipelago, 2003)
- Plank, Jeff Plankenhorn, (Blue Corn, 2003)
- Oval Room, Blaze FoleyBlaze FoleyMichael David Fuller , better known under the stage name Blaze Foley, was an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:...
, (Lost Art, 2004) - Wishbones, Slaid Cleaves, (Philo, 2004)
- Mercy Now, Mary Gauthier, (Lost Highway, 2005)
- Delerium Tremolos, Ray Wylie Hubbard, (Philo, 2005)
- Llano Avenue, Darryl Lee Rush, (Shiner, 2005)
- Oklahoma Speedway, Troy Campbell
- Rally at the Texas Hotel, Ralston BowlesRalston BowlesRalston Bowles is an American songwriter, producer, musician and singer from Grand Rapids, Michigan.-Biography:Ralston Bowles was born on August 31, 1952 to parents, Buel Bowles of Green Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and May Jean Morgan of Vincennes, Indiana .Bowles wrote the songs "Fragile",...
, (Wildflower, 2008)
Additional credits include work with Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
, Buddy Miller
Buddy Miller
Buddy Miller is a country singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee...
, Julie Miller
Julie Miller
Julie Miller is a songwriter, singer, and recording artist currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. She married Buddy Miller in 1981...
, Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan
Ian McLagan is an English keyboard instrumentalist, best known as a member of the English rock bands Small Faces and Faces.-Small Faces and Faces:...
, Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. She is the sister of guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X...
, Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician born in Wills Point, Texas, a small farming community located near Dallas. At a young age, LaFave's family moved to the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, Texas where he attended junior high and high school. By the early teens LaFave was...
, Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
, Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon
Mojo Nixon is an American musician, known for playing psychobilly music...
, Jim Lauderdale
Jim Lauderdale
Jim Lauderdale is a musician & singer-songwriter who performs bluegrass and country music. He has recorded since 1986 and has released nineteen studio albums. Artists who have recorded his material include George Strait and Patty Loveless.-Biography:...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Michael Penn
Michael Penn
Michael Penn is an American singer, songwriter and composer. He is the eldest son of actor/director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, and the brother of actors Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn.-Career:...
, and many others.
External links
- Gurf Morlix artist page at www.gurfmorlix.com.
- "Out Front: Sideman Supreme Gurf Morlix Steps...", by Lee Nichols Austin ChronicleAustin ChronicleThe Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
, April 17, 2000 - Gurf Morlix – Blaze Foley’s 113th Wet Dream - Rootball Records