Pro File: Exclusive Interview with Bluesman, Tyler Morris

Tyler Morris is a 22 year old musician from Boston, Massachusetts who has released and supported four internationally acclaimed albums to date. Morris developed an affinity for many genres of music at a young age and guitar became his primary passion. Along the way, he became a strong, prolific songwriter and an incendiary performer. Morris has enjoyed live performance ever since he first came onstage as an 11-year-old at the invitation of Gary King, musical director at B.B. King’s Blues Club. Morris became a regular guest player at the club and began his performing career thereafter, having a great grasp of Blues music history and style at a young age. Morris has performed with music industry notables including Sammy Hagar, Steve Vai, Walter Trout, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Ronnie Earl, Yngwie Malmsteen, Leslie West, Robben Ford, Ronnie Montrose and many others.
Morris is an endorsed artist by Gibson Guitars, Marshall Amps, Fishman, Sonotone Strings and many other companies, aiding them in promotion and design of new innovative musical products. Furthermore, Morris has been working with Vintage Guitar Magazine for over five years and has his own exclusive video series with the media outlet. One of Morris’ exclusive videos, a tribute to Eddie Van Halen, received much notoriety, leading him to start a touring tribute to Van Halen’s 40th anniversary, which is regularly selling out at many theatres. In addition to performance and composition, Morris is also an Electrical Engineer, and has designed audio effects for the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Conan O’Brien, Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Brian May (Queen), Warren Haynes and others. Tyler Morris Designs (TMD) just released their consumer line of pedals with press releases from Premier Guitar, Guitar World and Music Radar.
Morris’ latest release entitled, “Living in the Shadows,” was produced by Mike Zito (Royal Southern Brotherhood, Mike Zito Band). Recording guests on his album include Blues legends Ronnie Earl, Joe Louis Walker and Mike Zito, as well as powerhouse vocalist Amanda Fish. This is Morris’ first release where he is the lead singer on the majority of the album. Joe Louis Walker was a guest on Morris’ previous release, “Next in Line”, which charted at #8 on Billboard’s National Blues Charts. Sirius XM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville consistently played Morris’ rendition of “Willie the Wimp” with Walker on vocals and the single was in the top 10 on Sirius XM for multiple consecutive weeks. On this release, Morris channeled his evolving list of influences into his own unique songwriting style. The album, while in the Blues genre, contains elements of many genres, cohesively coming together in Morris’ established style.
Morris adds “Although songwriting has been my passion throughout my career, I am very happy to see the material on this record come to fruition with me as lead vocalist, a role that I have been working on for many years and finally feel comfortable stepping into as a live and studio performer.” Walter Trout, who Tyler has been performing with regularly over the past couple of years says, “Morris is a young six string guitar slinger who can play any style of music. I believe he has an old soul because he plays with a maturity way beyond his years. Watch him go – he’s unstoppable.” Tyler continues to develop his signature sound — channeling a classic Blues mindset into his songwriting. Morris is constantly challenging himself, learning and growing as an artist and, having accomplished so much in such a short time, it will be a pleasure to see where he goes from here.