Kentucky based country folk singer Morris calls this album “my dustbowl record” because it was conceived along dusty old highways like the one depicted in the cover art.
The apolitical songs contain personal stories from his various road trips and serve to explain why he has been defined as a poet of the road. The artist’s penchant for drifting and dreaming means that the songs here have an unhurried, laid back quality. In Six Black Horses and a 72oz. Steak, the prospect of having 1,000 miles of highway still to travel holds no fear and Montana Moon finds him unfazed by navigating a snowbound road while running out of gas.
Although he is far from being a household name, RB Morris is well regarded amongst his peers, earning the praise of esteemed artists like Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle. John Prine signed him to his Oh Boy label, where he released his first album, ‘Take That Ride’. Prine and Marianne Faithfull have each recorded his excellent song ‘That’s How Every Empire Falls’.
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Morris is joined on the record by Bo Ramsey on electric guitars and background vocals, Greg Horne on pedal steel, fiddle, electric guitars, and background vocals, Daniel Kimbro on bass, Hunter Deacon on drums, David Mansfield on mandolin and violin and Mickey Raphael on harmonica. Ramsey and Morris produced the album at Shangri-la Productions in Lexington, Kentucky.
An existential thrust motivates Morris’ wanderlust. That’s the Way I Do is a defiant anthem to living on his own terms. In the title track he sings: “I took the road that turns into the sky and why should I wait anymore/There’ll be time enough to live/Time is all we have to give away today.”
The advice to stay calm and keep moving are the main takeaways from this record.
RB Morris’ website
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