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Upcoming Gigs:
Feb 6
Brackins Blues Club
Maryville TN
Swiss Tour 2009:
26 Feb
Dublin's,
La Chaux-de-Fonds
27 Feb
Bar de la Ferme, Nyon
28 Feb
Vully Blues Club
3-6 March
Hotel Eiger, Grindelwald
(Charlie solo)
12 March
Brasserie 17, Interlaken
13 March
Alte Post,
Wangen bei Olten
14 March
Rolls Royce Bar, Bern
15 March
Hotel Belle Epoque, Bern
18 March
Bierhaus, Sempach
19 March
s' Gwoelb, Watt
20 March
Dixie Jazz Club, Sargans
21 March
Baekerstuebli, Scherzingen
26 March
Baden Blues Club
27 March
La Cintra, Fribourg
Charlie's back in Florida for December, and he's busier than a downsized Santa Claus, with several gigs at a variety of local musical emporia: a wine bar, a beer brewery, a biker bar and a beachfront tiki (actually a chickee).
The new CD has been mixed (at Panda in Clearwater with wild man George Harris), and Chuck and George will be heading to Fuller Sound in Miami for the mastering. The new platter should be done early in 2009. In February, Chuck is in Tennessee for a couple gigs, then off to Switzerland for another big fat winter tour.
This here Web site is being refurbished, reamped and revitalized. A new wider format allows even bigger pictures of ME, as well as bigger type for my aging fans. We're also gonna be adding some video snippets and all kinds of other cool eye candy. Come back every couple of days to see what's up.
CMB tracks new CD in CH
In August, the Charlie Morris Band spent a couple of days in Relief Studio, near Fribourg (Switzerland). Charlie, Speedy, Dave and Markus laid down seven new tunes. Together with three recorded last winter at Radio Suisse Romande, these 10 original songs will make up a new CD, to be released in early 2009. This will be Charlie's first studio CD since 2003's Still got 'em, and the first studio CD with the current (and best ever) lineup.
Another great show at Brackins
Charlie Morris and Gator Bait (Dave Peeples on bass, Jason Roller on drums) had a great time at Brackins, once again. This little spot in Maryville is the best Blues club in East Tennessee. Well actually, it's about the only Blues club east of Nashville, but that doesn't make it any less cool! Mark has a great crew here, and we had a good crowd last Saturday night. Drank some PBR, had some fun!
Charlie and the boys will return to Brackins on February 6, 2009.
CMB wraps up
Swiss festival tour
Chuck returns from another fantastic tour of Switzerland. Played four festivals and a couple clubs, finished tracking a new platter.
Charlie backs up
Darrell Nulisch in FL
Blues and soul master Darrell Nulisch blew down to Florida for a couple of dates, and your favorite local boy was tapped to back him up and open the show. Darrell lays down some rootsy harp-driven blues and sings his ass off on some great soul ballads. Right up Charlie's alley, and he was tickled pink to be a part of it.
Friday night we did a gig at the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, an excellent old-Florida venue where Chuck has played a couple of times before. Saturday it was the Suncoast Blues Society's anniversary bash at good old Skipper's. A fantastic party - kudos aplenty to the SBS - and the best turnout this smoked gator has seen at Skipper's in a long time. Darrell had the crowd in the palm of his hand from the downbeat to the encore.
Bluescoast Sessions welcome
Lucky Peterson, Sauce Boss
The Bluescoast Sessions, a series of informal jams with the greatest blues musicians from Florida and beyond, continued in April.
Lucky Peterson is simply one of the greatest bluesmen alive. This man lives and breathes the blues, and it was a great honor to trade licks with him. Lucky stopped in on his way to the Tampa Bay Blues Festival. His set later on at the Ringside was one of the best blues shows I've seen in my life (and I have seen quite a few!), with a nonstop barrage of magical guitar lines holding the audience spellbound.
Bill Wharton, aka the Sauce Boss, is a real Florida bluesman, a mean steel guitar player and a super guy. We had a ball making up a crazy song about Fly Gumbo. This night was exactly what the Bluescoast Sessions was meant to capture.
Some fine day, the pick of the Bluescoast Sessions will be released on a big fat CD.
What A Scene!
The Charlie Morris Band's new live CD has hit the airwaves. It's spinning on blues shows in the US, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Australia.
"The Charile Morris Band is fantastic!"
- Wayne Winkler, WETS, Johnson City TN
"This is a lot of fun!"
- Derral, KCHO, Reading CA
You can
Order the CD or download tracks
CMB kills at the
Montreux Jazz Festival
In July, the Charlie Morris Band had a weeklong stand at the Montreux Jazz Festival. We had an absolute blast! Standing-room-only crowds plied us with champagne and whiskey, and all sorts of great musicians, including Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn, came by and sat in with us.
Power to the People!
BAAMO and WMNF have released a new CD, Power to the People, with 15 songs of protest and political punditry by various artists. One of Charlie's new songs, I Don't Know My Neighbors Anymore, was selected for the disc. It's an acoustic version, recorded during Charlie's appearance on WMNF's Live Music Showcase. Later, Charlie recorded an electric version with the full band, which will be on the next CD (yeah, yeah, one o these days, right?).
Chuck and the band also played at the Power to the People concert on November 4 at Skipper's Smokehouse, which featured 30 bands! They played Neighbors along with a tune by Iris Dement and one by John Prine.
Charlie's been a big fan and supporter of WMNF for many years, and has appeared live on several different shows, including the Florida Folk Show and the Afternoon Blues Show. It was an honor to be a part of the Power to the People CD and concert!
Son of a Gator!
Hot on the tail of their live CD,
Live at the Gator n Chips
It was a return to the scene of the crime, as the new live CD was recorded in the UK on the Fall 2005 tour. This time the gator travelled with us in the form of a guitar strap, which was much less dangerous for all concerned (although a couple of people did get bit).
The first leg of the tour was in England, where we played three pubs and a festival. On October 7th, we played to an excellent crowd at the Banbury Festival. The band played a set on the main stage, and Chuck did a solo set on the acoustic stage.
Next we crossed the creek to Switzerland for a return engagement at the Dixie Jazz Club in Sargans, then our first concert in Schaffhausen, at a famous local venue called the Dolder 2.
Crawlin' through the South
Here are some pix from the Crescent City Crawl tours (1998-2004). CMB has been going to sip from that simmering saucepan of sin since 1998. Tallahassee, the Panhandle, Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mississippi...pretty bluesy country, man!
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