In-Studio With Christopher Morse
WLUW’s Jessica Martens sat down with Colorado-based singer-songwriter
Christopher Morse to discuss his recent music, early inspirations and his fall tour.
Interview conducted on September 28, 2024.
JM: Okay, well I'd just like to start off with allowing you to introduce yourself however you want to to the audience, and give them a little mini background bio on you.
CM: Sure. First of all, thanks for having me. My name is Christopher Morse. I'm currently on tour through the Midwest. I'm living in Colorado now, but I'm from the East Coast. And, yeah, I've been singing and playing guitar for, like, 15 some years, and been releasing music. You can find all my stuff on Spotify or any streaming service. And, yeah, I'm here in Chicago and having a great time.
Awesome. Where in Colorado do you live at? I'm just curious.
I'm living in Boulder right now.
Okay, gotcha. I interviewed a jazz band from Denver, like, months ago. They're the last Colorado guest I've had, so I was just curious. You guys got a lot of good talent coming out of there, though.
Yeah, there's a lot of music in Colorado for sure.
That's what I've heard. Only I've ever been there once for, like, a few days, but I'd love to go back. Yeah. Get out of the city, go to the mountains or something, you know?
Yeah. If you need any recommendations, let me know.
All right. I’m always curious about your early journey with music . . . So if you would tell us a little about kind of your background and when you transitioned from being just, like, a listener of music to, like, this is something that I can do myself and I can make my own kind of creations.
Sure. Yeah, so both my parents are classical musicians, so I grew up listening to classical music all the time, and then I had a really unique experience in middle school. Fifth through eighth grade, I went to a place called the American Boy Choir School, which was sort of like Hogwarts for singers.
So we had, like, three and a half to four hours of rehearsal every day, and we would go on tour and have school on the bus. Oh, man, that's legit. Yeah, and we got to sing in Carnegie Hall and with the New York Philharmonic, a bunch of really high-profile stuff.
So that was sort of, like, my first deep dive into seriously singing and performing at a high level. And then when I heard John Mayer's first record, Room for Squares, that sort of opened my eyes to what was possible with, like, songwriting and guitar playing. I had heard stuff on the radio before, but nothing that really grabbed me like that did. And then from there, I started playing guitar and gradually started writing songs.
Yeah, that's awesome. As far as songwriting, is there anything that you, like, pull inspiration-wise when you get to writing lyrics? Are your lyrics very, like, about your own life and your own experiences?
Yeah, a lot of the time, the stories come from my own life, but I also get inspired by stuff that's happened to friends, and I'll try and write from their perspective. Or one song I wrote just because I saw a picture online that I thought was really interesting, and I started making up a story in my head about, you know, that place and the people that lived there and worked there. So yeah, inspiration strikes in all kinds of ways.
Awesome. Yeah. All right. Well, maybe now is a good time to get into a track, if you have anything that you'd like to play to start off with for us.
Sure. Yeah. I'll play a song called 900 Square Feet that is about the little apartment I live in with my now wife. We just got married in June.
Oh, congratulations!
Thanks. Yeah, I wrote this song. I was really frustrated with our living situation at the time. You know, stuff wasn't getting fixed in the time I wanted it to, and, you know, neighbors upstairs were wearing cinder blocks for shoes. Just, you know, normal apartment stuff. So this started as a complaining song, and then I got stuck in the middle of it and couldn't figure out where to go, and I decided to flip it on its head and turn it into a song about being grateful for what you have instead.
Awesome.
There you go. Change up the perspective. Yeah.
Yeah. It's called 900 Square Feet. ♪♪♪ Kitchen.
How does that floor make that sound? Bathroom faucet won't stop dripping. The upstairs neighbors so damn loud. It seemed so empty when we moved in.
Songs would echo like a canyon. I'd need a map to get to you. We got all that we need.
Tars and sewing machines. Crooked stone. It's grippy.
I'm muddy. We got all that we need. Tars and sewing machines.
Cranks this couch. Crooked stone. It's that much burning soul.
We got all that we need. Tars and sewing machines. Cranks this couch.
Crooked stone. It's that much burning soul.
That was great.
Thank you. Thanks.
I love that. It's not much, but it's home. Ain't that the truth sometimes? You guys have any furry friends in your 900 square feet?
We do, yeah. We got a dog named Atlas.
Oh, cute!
Shout out to Atlas if he's listening. He looks like a tall Corgi. We think he's like a Red Dealer Corgi mix.
Oh, super cute. I always like to ask that. I've just got a kitty at home. That's my little best friend that I love to go home to. And you played a Chicago show last night?
Yeah!
How was that? Tell us about that.
It was great. It was at Tangible Books, which is a really cool bookstore. And they've got a little room in the back with books, but it's also a great event space. So it was a really cool DIY show. Really intimate space. But yeah, it was a tough one.
That's awesome. I've heard about that venue, but I have not seen any actual sets there. So that's something definitely want to check out in the near future here. And then you're off for another show tonight also. Where's that at?
Yeah, I'm playing in Antioch tonight, which is just north of Chicago, I think.
Yeah, it's not too far. All right. Well, I wish I could make it there to see it, but I'm getting my own little show here in the studio. So I'll live through this, which is good for me. And you have a track you put out pretty recently, right? A new single?
Yeah. September 13th. It just came out.
Yeah. Do you want to talk about he making of that single for us?
Sure. Yeah. So it's called Nobody Else. And it's loosely based on the night that I met my now wife. I saw her from across the room and she had what I like to call underwater hair. It was like all flowy and moving around and sort of hypnotizing. And that drew me in. Yeah, I got her number that night and the rest is history. But yeah, I was inspired to write about it. And I like to call it my sort of sexy monogamy song.
Yeah, that's awesome. I saw when listening to it on Spotify, there's a little thing that come up. I don't know if it's like a note that you wrote? something about like the harmonies in it and recording them. What was that like, just actually recording the song?
It was a ton of fun. Yeah, I've got a great studio, a couple studios that I love working with in Colorado. And we recorded it at one and then mixed it at the other. And yeah, just the whole process is a ton of fun. I brought in a bunch of awesome musicians, drummer, bass player, electric guitar, keys, the whole thing. Yeah, and I really love whenever I'm recording, when we get to the part where it's time to record the harmonies, because for me, then it starts to feel like a real song. And coming from a choir background, and I did college a cappella when I was in school.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I love that part of things. I like to nerd out with that yeah, it's a ton of fun.
I was actually a choir kid myself as well in elementary, middle, and high school. A lot of good memories. It made me a lot of friendships, you know, a lot of experiences that I can look back fondly on, even though I might have embarrassed myself a few times on the stage. But yeah, but yeah, it's definitely something that brought me where I am today as well. Well, would you like to play your new track for us?I'd love to hear it.
Yeah, I'd love to. It's called Nobody Else.
Even when you looked far away, you turned to float right up to me. Yeah, yeah, a raging storm that can't be tamed. And then you whispered like a gentle breeze.
I only want you, nobody else. Lights turned down, all by ourselves, intoxicated. You enchant me with your spell.
I only want you, nobody else. Hands move slow and hearts beat fast. Your lips tease in emotional pain.
I'm so lost inside your deep blue eyes. You move through me like an ocean wave, wave, wave. I only want you, nobody else.
Lights turned down, all by ourselves, intoxicated. You enchant me with your spell. I only want you, nobody else.
Am I hypnotized? Do you need me like I need you? Tell me that this is real. I want to wake up here with you, here with you. I only want you, I only want you, nobody else.
Lights turned down, all by ourselves, intoxicated. You enchant me with your spell. I only want you, I only want you, I only want you, nobody else. Nobody else.
I mean, I shouldn't be surprised because you obviously have vocal training, but your voice is so lovely, like it truly is. It sounds so great.
I still feel like I'm getting warmed up, so that's awesome.
You sound wonderful. You have more shows coming up in October as well, right? Where are you just going all over?
Yeah, I'm touring through the Midwest, so in October I'll be in Minneapolis and Madison, Wisconsin, and then Des Moines and Omaha, and then I'll make my way back to Colorado.
Awesome. I got a brother in Iowa, maybe I'll tell him If I can't catch the show, maybe he can. So after you do those shows, what's next for you? Are you going to take a break, go home and see the wife and the doggy and chill out for a little bit, or do you have anything further down the road planned for this year?
Well, I'm releasing singles for this new EP, so Nobody Else is the first single, and then the next one will come out in a few weeks. Yeah, and I'll take two days to relax. And then right back to work. Yeah, and then it's back to the grind, planning tours and writing and creating content and all that stuff. Awesome. Okay, well for those of you listening out there, you heard that, new single to look out for coming soon.
Yeah, awesome. All right. Have you played Chicago in the past, before the show last night?
No, this is my first time here.
Oh, great. Well, I hope that, yeah, good taste for you the first time, and then you're going to want to come back and hang out with us again.
Yeah, I'd love to come back.
Do you have any, like, favorite moments that you've had either on stage or, like, in songwriting? Anything that might be, like, a highlight of just your music making that comes to mind?
That's a good question. Well, during my shows, I like to start some sing-alongs and get the crowd to participate, so that's always a ton of fun. And those are some of my favorite moments, because you get people who are, like, super loud and out of tune, but they're still really excited, which is great. And then you have, you know, some music nerd people like me who will chime in with harmonies without being asked, which is awesome.
So yeah, I think that's my favorite part. But on this tour, I've done a super intimate, and it's just awesome because you can get to know people better that way, and you're staying in houses. Like, on this tour in Kansas City, I stayed with a guy who basically lives in a tree house.
Oh, wow.
Like, a fully furnished, you know, modernized house, but it's up in a tree. So that was really cool to see, and I got to stay in a little cabin with an outdoor shower, which is great. So you get all these unique little experiences outside of the show, which is a ton of fun.
Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned that I'm actually from Kansas City.
Oh, really? Cool.
Yeah! I’ve never heard of this treehouse situation going on. I'm missing out. . . gotta get my contacts, figure out what's going on back home.
I had some great barbecue down there.
Oh, yeah. I miss that for sure when I'm here, is that grub is always amazing. Well, with that, do you have a favorite song to play live? One that just always hits?
Well, recently it's been that song, Nobody Else. Because when I play live, I usually incorporate the loop pedals. So if you've seen guys like Ed Sheeran build out the song, I like to do that. That's a ton of fun. And I get the guitar layers going, and some rhythm layers, and some harmonies. So that's a lot of fun. I get to create like a little live band all by myself.
So Nobody Else has been my favorite recently. But I mean, it's hard to choose. Yeah.
Oh, totally. I get that. So you mentioned John Mayer earlier, being an early kind of inspiration for you. Who else is an inspiration maybe in the past or currently for you to use it?
Yeah, when I first started, that was a big wave of popularity for male singer songwriters. So guys like John Mayer, obviously, and Jason Mraz, and Matt Nathanson, Howie Day. So I love all those guys. And when I first started playing, I thought, if I can have the guitar skills of John Mayer with the vocals of Jason Mraz and put those together, maybe I'll have something really cool. And so I don't know how close I am to that goal. But I think for any artist, part of their identity is their failure to reach their goals and sounding like their heroes.
Yeah, I get that.
Yeah. So I grew up with those guys. And I also love James Taylor and Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel. And more recently, I've been getting more into country. I love the pop country side of things. So artists like Dan and Shay and Lady A are great. And guys out of Nashville who aren't super famous, but are incredible songwriters like Dave Barnes and Matt Words and Ben Rector. Yeah, I love all those artists.
Did I see somewhere that you spent some time in Nashville in the past?
Yeah, I've been down there and played a couple shows down there. I can't wait to go back. Yeah, down there, they do a ton of writers rounds where they have four songwriters on stage, usually four songwriters. And you just trade back and forth, songwriter one goes, then two, then three and four and back to one. And it's like that for an hour. And then after an hour, a new group of songwriters comes on stage. And I played this really famous writer ground called the Music Row Freak Show, which was absolutely incredible. And as the night goes on, the songwriters get more and more well known. And, you know, I was in one of the early hours. And by like 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock at night, you're just hearing like number one, number one, number one, number one, which is amazing to hear from the guys who actually wrote the song. Right. Instead of from the artist. It's a totally different experience. But that was amazing. And I can't wait to go back.
Oh, my God, that sounds like it would be incredible. Alright, well, this is a good time to play another track. Do you have another one that comes to mind [that] you might want to play?
I'll play a song called Always Been You. And this was actually inspired by a friend of mine who was getting married at the time. And so I started thinking about their story as a couple and started thinking about my past relationships.And I think everyone has that moment with any relationship that ends like, well, maybe it would have been different if the timing was different or, you know, if we cross paths later in life, would the sparks fly or would it just be awkward? And so this is sort of about that, like running into someone you had seen in the past and, you know, what the story might turn into in the future. So it's called Always Been You. All right, here we go.
Maybe I've been gone for so long, I try to find the truth. Messed around with all the wrong ones. Cause I'm never at the bar as we get caught up on life.
Three or four drinks in and we travel back in time. To bonfire nights in the summer air. I was lost in the flames, you found this stare.
We were the only people left on earth that night. Maybe I've been gone for so long, I try to find the truth. I mess around with all the wrong ones, cause I never knew.
Me and Spike, what up? Bar kick down. Maybe I've been gone for so long, I try to find the truth. I mess around with all the wrong ones, cause I never knew.
Every time I hear you say, maybe you're the one I want and you want to. Don't go, try to find the truth.
Awesome, thank you. It always feels like I'm getting my own little personal concert right in here whenever I have people in, which is always so fun.
Yeah, it was fun for me too.
Yeah. All right, so just another little reminder here for anybody that might be hearing this outside of Chicago, in Chicago, anywhere around the Midwest, that Christopher does have dates coming up late September and in October for shows in Iowa, Wisconsin. Where else you going?
Omaha!
Omaha, okay, yeah. Everybody go check that out if you're around. Gonna be good shows.
Yeah, please come out and say hi.
Yeah, and then where can . . . people can find you?
Yeah, you can find me at all the streaming services, and if you'd like to check out my socials and keep up with what I'm doing, all my social handles are at Christopher Morse Music, and Morse is like the code, or like horse with an M. Yeah, a lot of people try and type in Morris, and then they don't find it.
Oh, yeah, Gotcha. you guys heard that, Morse, not Morris. All right, and then is there anything you want to leave with the people? Anything you want to say other than shouting yourself out?
Thanks so much for all the support. Listen to the single if you can. I hope you enjoy it! Yeah, thanks so much for having me. This has been a ton of fun.
Yeah, totally! The new single is great. It's very catchy. . . I was listening to it on the train yesterday and it kind of gave me ‘I could dance around my kitchen while I make dinner to this track’ [kind of vibe]. Thats what I was thinking in my head, maybe I will do that tonight! Its definitely a good track for the people to check out. Thank you so much again for coming in!