Long nights before early mornings make for long days and a quick realization that something’s gotta give.
Long nights before early mornings make for long days and a quick realization that something’s gotta give. Unless you’re Hunter Morris, lead singer of Blue Blood and owner/operator of Fly Fishing North Georgia, who sees it quite differently.
Hunter says: “The hours aren’t always ideal, but I feel like my music and my fishing business both benefit from one another. Having my guide service gives me a way to make a good living doing something that I love. And that has given me complete artistic freedom to make the music I want to make without second guessing about what will be more ‘marketable’ or what will make it possible to ‘make it’ in music.
Also, writing and playing music makes me a much better fishing guide because it keeps me from getting burned out on fishing like a lot of guides do. I have a separate creative outlet that allows me to step away from fishing every day, and that keeps me excited to get back out on the river the next day.”
“They told me all is fair in love and war, so I killed the one I’ve been fighting for.”
So went the process for Hunter Morris after the dissolution of his prior band Gift Horse. A professional fly fishing guide by trade, he spent a year on the trout streams of north Georgia literally and figuratively far away from the music scene in his home of Athens, GA. This time of reflection produced the songs that would become Blue Blood. But it was the process of reinvention that provided the inspiration for these songs long before there were finished lyrics, structures, and arrangements.
Blue Blood began as a new solo project for Morris, but through the process of making demos in solitude and trying to find a new voice for his songs, what emerged was a collection of songs worthy of full band, psychedelic pop treatment. And Morris knew just the person for the job. He sent some of the songs to Hank Sullivant, who fronts Kuroma, was a founding member of The Whigs, and is currently the guitarist for MGMT, and who had previously produced the Gift Horse LP “Mountain of Youth”. After hearing Morris’ demos, Sullivant immediately assumed a more involved producer/instrumentalist role and the studio version of Blue Blood became a collaboration between the two. Morris and Sullivant recruited J.J. Bower (Dead Confederate, Battle Tapes) to play the drums, as well as keyboardist Dave Spivey, and they recently completed what will be the debut Blue Blood LP “This Is The Life” released on This Is American Music.
The album was definitely the foundation upon which Blue Blood was built, as Morris and Sullivant essentially completed recording it before Blue Blood ever played a live show. However, it is the live lineup of Blue Blood that has brought the songs into their own. Morris says that having the songs recorded prior to forming a band to play them made the learning process much more efficient. But it’s what each member brings of their own playing style and personality that give the songs an added depth in the live setting.
Give the new album “This is the Life” a good listen. If you are in or near Athens Georgia and want to get on the water look up Hunter through Fly Fishing North Georgia
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