Michael Robert Morgan (born November 30, 1959, in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

) is an American

and

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

musician. He has released 14

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s to date, on various

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s including Rounder, Black Top and

Severn Records Severn Records is an American independent record label that concentrates on blues music. Its motto is "Roots Music for the 21st Century". History On July 11, 1997, a company named Echo Records was incorporated in Maryland by David Earl. By the t ...

. The majority of his releases have featured his long standing backing band, The Crawl. Morgan has played alongside Darrell Nulisch, Lee McBee, Gary Primich, and Randy McAllister.

Biography

Morgan was born in Dallas, but grew up in

Hillsboro, Texas Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Hill County, Texas, United States. It is located between Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, directly on Interstate 35 in North Central Texas. Hillsboro draws trade from throughout the county, and from Inte ...

. He received his first guitar at an early age, and initially concentrated on playing

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. In 1985 he converted to blues and blues-rock, before relocating back to Dallas in 1986. There he met Darrell Nulisch, who both were founding members of The Crawl. The

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

was named for a

Lonnie Brooks Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr., December 18, 1933 – April 1, 2017) was an American blues singer and guitarist. The musicologist Robert Palmer, writing in ''Rolling Stone'', stated, "His music is witty, soulful and ferociously energetic, br ...

song. Mike Morgan and the Crawl earned a reputation playing around Dallas and the

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

area, before Nulisch left them in 1989, to be replaced by the singer and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

player, Lee McBee. Following a performance at the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

, their debut 1990

, ''Raw & Ready'', saw them undertake national and international tours. Further albums including ''Full Moon Over Dallas'', and ''Ain't Worried No More'' ensued, before Morgan recorded without his backing group on ''Let The Dogs Run'' (1994) with

Jim Suhler Jim Suhler (born December 30, 1960, in Dallas, Texas, United States) is an American Texas blues guitarist. Suhler has been playing professionally since the 1980s and has performed with a variety of blues musicians that include George Thorogood, ...

. In 1994 Mike Morgan and the Crawl appeared on the bill at the

Notodden Blues Festival Notodden Blues Festival (NBF) is one of the largest blues music festivals in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia. The festival is held in Notodden, Norway, usually the first weekend August. It has been running annually since 1988. The festival ...

. Later group releases included their Black Top swansong, ''I Like the Way You Work It'', but at the end of the 1990s McBee left the band. Buoyed by the experience of playing behind Nulisch, Keith Dunn, and Chris Whynaught, 2000's ''Texas Man'' saw Morgan's vocalist debut. ''Live in Dallas'' (2004) followed before Morgan's latest effort, ''Stronger Every Day'', released in March 2008, included further accompaniment from McBee and Randy McAllister. Recent activity has seen a reduction in touring, and Morgan working as a sales manager in a

Mesquite, Texas Mesquite is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County with portions extending into Kaufman County, Texas, Kaufman County. The population was 150,108 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and maki ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

dealership.

Discography

*''Raw & Ready'' (1990) - Black Top *''Mighty Fine Dancin (1991) - Black Top *''Full Moon over Dallas'' (1992) - Black Top *''Ain't Worried No More'' (1994) - Black Top *''Let the Dogs Run'' (1994) - Black Top *''Looky Here!'' (1996) - Black Top *''Lowdown & Evil'' (1997) - Zensor *''The Road'' (1998) - Black Top *''I Like the Way You Work It'' (1999) - Black Top *''Texas Man'' (2000) - Severn Records *''Live in Dallas'' (2004) - Severn Records *''Free Ourselves'' (2005) - Mike Morgan *''Stronger Every Day'' (2008) -

*''The Lights Went Out in Dallas'' (2022) - M.C. Records

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Mike 1959 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers Songwriters from Texas American blues harmonica players Harmonica blues musicians Electric blues musicians Musicians from Dallas Texas blues musicians Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists People from Hillsboro, Texas 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters

Biography

Discography

See also

References

External links