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 (Mark O'Neill/QMI Agency) |
Singer-songwriter Matt Morris has definitely not followed the same path as his more famous fellow members of The All New Mickey Mouse Club from the early '90s.
Instead, the 31-year-old son of '80s country star Gary Morris took his time and wrote hits for his former Mouseketeers -- such as Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera -- as well as folks like Kelly Clarkson (Miss Independent) before releasing his major-label debut, the elegant pop-soul-and-folk filled When Everything Breaks Open, earlier this year.
"My evolution of an artist was evolution and not so much design," said the Denver-raised Morris recently, leading up to a six-date Canadian tour opening for Belgian singer-songwriter Milow starting Sept. 14 in Toronto.
"So much of what I did was based on instinct, including spending most of my early '20s almost exclusively as a songwriter. It made sense to me. It felt right for me to wait to be in the forefront, to really hone my skills as a writer and to have some life experiences that were worth writing about.
"I think if I had tried to make a record at 20 I wouldn't have recorded songs with anything of the depth that these songs have. I may have tried to just be a performer. Not really taken as much stock in what I was singing about. I don't think I would have been ready ... I feel like watching my fellow ex-Mousketeers and all the castmates go through their careers, that was a learning experience for me to see what they did."
Morris, who married his partner Sean Michael Morris in California two years ago, also says he never considered following in his father's footsteps.
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"I like the storytelling found in country songs and I do like singing some country melodies but I never considered being a country artist; (there are) not a lot of gay country artists, in the States especially," he said. "I actually think it would be nice for there to be a more openness in the country music world. Country music is often most well received in communities that aren't necessarily the most accepting of the GLBT community. I was also really drawn more to soul singing, R&B leanings, and there's only a limited amount of room for that in country music."
When Everything Breaks Open was released on Timberlake's Interscope imprint, Tennman Records, and was co-produced by Timberlake and guitarist Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan). Timberlake also joins Morris on the song, Money.
"I think our entire friendship we've always challenged each other to be better at what we did," said Morris. "I think that's why it's actually fitting that I'm working with him now."
When Morris went to New York to see Timberlake host and perform his first Saturday Night Live, JT made the offer to sign him to Tennman Records.
"Justin and I have written a lot together and it seemed like a natural step for us to go into the studio. We had studio time together while working at Disney, so we really understood each other's language.
"I decided too that I wanted to bring in Charlie Sexton, who is one of the coolest, completely underrated (musicians). The two of them are very different and I knew when I met Charlie that there was something in Charlie that was consistent with something in Justin. And so working with Justin in the studio felt like a homecoming of sorts and working with Charlie in the studio felt like a real expansion of what I was comfortable with."
’Hallelujah’ started it all
Until now, Matt Morris was best known for joining forces with his long-time pal Justin Timberlake to perform Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon in January.
It became a No. 1 digital hit and the most downloaded song off the resulting album.
"The song, in rehearsal, just gelled so quickly, just felt so right and yeah we knew it was the thing to perform, that it was right for the occasion, and it was just the right moment," said Morris. "I'm so glad we did it."
It was Timberlake's suggestion to do the song and both musicians were fans of the Jeff Buckley version off his album Grace.
"Just a glorious moment musically," said Morris.