Born and raised on the shores of Cape Cod, Grace’s unique brand of “saltwater country” has established her as a confident, refreshing voice in country-pop. With performances at Nashville’s Bluebird Café and co-writes with multi-Grammy winner Lori McKenna (Humble and Kind) and hit songwriter Barbara Cloyd (I Guess You Had to be There) under her belt, Grace made a name for herself in 2022 at songwriter festivals from Massachusetts to Montana. During this stretch she gained further recognition and invitations to write with Dana Hunt Black (Check Yes or No), and Steve Dean (Round About Way).
Outwardly effortless and radio ready you might take for granted what makes Grace’s songwriting special. With musical influences ranging from Fats Domino’s rock and roll licks; the raw expression of jazz; Celtic ballads; and 90’s pop choruses – Grace delivers “three chords and the truth” in a package that is familiar and yet undeniably unique.
Grace Morrison is a mother, musician, renaissance faire performer, cranberry farmer, songwriter, and storyteller. With subjects ranging from Titanic to tantric; an “evening with” Grace will take you from the court of King Henry VIII to debauchery in Denver. With humor and raw honesty, audiences leave Grace’s shows with her songs stuck in their heads and their toes tired from tapping.
“The sweetest and purest vocal tones you can imagine”
“Her voice smacks of Jewel, and her style, cadence, song structure is every inch from the school of Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, Natalie Merchant. It’s uncanny.”
“[Maybe Modern is] A dripping soulful composition that pours with a country authenticity reminiscent of Jo Dee Messina and Sugarland.
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“I came away from [Daughter] feeling as though I had taken a trip into the heart and soul of an intelligent, insightful woman, and it was a most enjoyable ride...a masterful record.”
Videos
“I am in awe that such a young woman would do a tribute to those of us who served, and particularly to those who fell. Thank you!”
Awards
“Grace is a keen observer of the contemporary scene and it shows in her writing. Her song “Taking Johnny Home” is presented with razor-sharp vision and vocals to match.”
2023 AmericanaFest Official Showcase
2023 SERFA Official Showcase
2023 Wildflower Festival Singer-Songwriter Finalist
2022 SWRFA Official Showcase
2022 NERFA Official Showcase
2022 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Most Wanted Emerging Artist
2022 New Song Finalist
2022 Songwriter Serenade - 2nd Place
2021 Songwriter Serenade Finalist
2019 SWRFA Official Showcase Artist (alt.)
2019 SERFA Official Showcase Artist
2019 Finalist: Wildflower Festival Singer-Songwriter Contest*
2018 NERFA Folk DJ Showcase Artist
2018 SERFA Official Showcase (alt.)
2018 WSM Nashville: Road Show Contest Semi-Finalist*
2017 Blast on the Bay Songwriters Festival Emerging Artist*
2016 New England Music Songwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner
2016 Finalist: Wildflower Festival Singer Songwriter Contest
2016 Honorable Mention: Telluride Folk Festival Songwriter Competition
2015 New England Music Award Grassroots Award Winner
2015 New Jersey Folk Festival’s Singer/Songwriter Contest Winner
2014 WPRI- TV12’s American Idol Big Break Winner
2013 Limelight Music Awards Band of the Year Winner
*did not attend due to scheduling conflict
“It is a testament to her talent that Morrison sounds as good live as she does on her record.”
Press Photos
Full Biography
Grace Morrison has never allowed others to define her. Over the course of her prolific career, she’s released three exceedingly well received albums — I’m the Apple (2017), Reasons (2019) and Daughter (2021), each of which testify to her artistry and her acumen.
She’s many things — a singer, songwriter, a mom, Renaissance Faire performer, and yes, even a cranberry grower. Yet she pursues each activity with an uplifting attitude and authentic enthusiasm. It leaves an impact on her audiences, creating an emotional bond that’s both enduring and engaging. It’s the mark of an exceptional artist that finds her listeners leaving her shows feeling like they’ve found a new friend, met a kindred spirit and connected with someone who has engaged them with touching tunes, gentle humor and remarkable stories that resonate and reflect true life experiences.
In that regard, Grace has patented a sound she calls "Saltwater Country.” She describes it as the idea that we need the ocean — and all sources of water for that matter — to provide a place that offers cleansing — not only physically, but spiritually as well. She expresses those sentiments in her songs and in her live performances, through the spoken interludes she shares between songs.
So too, her themes incorporate a variety of subjects all shared from a personal perspective — be it life as a new mom, accepting one’s body image, dealing with alcoholism, substance abuse and eating disorders, life in a small town and even by referencing historical scenarios as well.
Now, with her new effort, Maybe Modern, Grace offers yet another outstanding example of those unique abilities. It maintains the momentum established by Daughter, an album that garnered a host of superlative reviews.
Lauren Daily of The Boston Globe declared, “Her voice smacks of Jewel, and her style, cadence, song structure is every inch from the school of Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, Natalie Merchant. It’s uncanny.” So too, Bluebird Cafe host and hit Nashville songwriter Dana Hunt Black raved, “I came away from [Daughter] feeling as though I had taken a trip into the heart and soul of an intelligent, insightful woman, and it was a most enjoyable ride...a masterful record.”
So too, Maybe Modern underscores the accomplishments that have marked the trajectory Grace has maintained since so early on. They include her Grand Prize wins at the New England Songwriting Competition and the WPRI Rhode Show Big Break contest — both of which led to her music video being played on the season finale of “American Idol” — her recognition as an Official Showcase performer at both the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance and the Southwest Regional Folk Alliance in 2019, her finalist standing in the Wildflower (TX) Festival performing singer-songwriter contest, and her selection to perform as part of the Emerging Artist Showcase at the famed Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.
It also follows up the success of her sophomore set, Reasons, which debuted at #2 on the Roots Music Report’s Top 50 Contemporary Country Airplay Chart.
Produced by Walt Wilkins and Ron Flynt, recorded and mixed by Ron Flynt at Jumping Dog Studio, Austin, and mastered by John Mailloux at Bongo Beach Productions Westport, MA., Maybe Modern features a stellar line-up that includes Grace herself on acoustic guitar and vocals, the indomitable music legends Walt Wilkins contributing acoustic guitar, percussion and harmony vocals and Lloyd Maines, who also played on Daughter, adding steel guitar. In addition, it finds Bettysoo on backing vocals, John Chipman on drums and percussion, Glenn Fukunaga playing bass, Rich Brotherton on electric guitars, and Ron Flynt sharing Wurlitzer piano, B3 organ, glockenspiel and baritone guitar.
“The new album exists because of two songs — ‘Ghost of It’ and ‘Broken Things’,” Grace says. “But ‘Caught Up In Your Blue" and ‘God Can Be a Mother’ mean a heck of a lot too.”
“Ghost Of It” describes a connection to time and space, and finding comfort and familiarity in a place that’s part of the past, but which is sadly beyond reach in the present tense. A bittersweet ballad, it rings with the sound of bittersweet reflection and Maines’ wistful pedal steel. The gentle lilt of “Broken Things” shares a similar sensibility, an ode to a now-abandoned house where her grandparents once lived and which currently serves as a testament to the connection she still feels as she passes each day on the main street of her town. Even now, it draws her ever closer despite the passage of so many years. “A time capsule is as close as I can come to a description,” Grace notes. “Think Titanic on dry land.”
“Caught Up In Your Blue” comes across with a forthright melody, a song about empathy, and her frustration at witnessing someone close to her caught up in abuse, which in turn, causes her anger due to the fact that the victim refuses to react. “I realized this person had to be the one to save themself,” Grace explains. “The ‘aha’ moment was likening it to addiction, as if to say, ‘you’re the drug and I'm the user, God I feel the shame.’”
On the other hand, the album’s closing track, the gentle and caressing “God Can Be a Mother” is a song about self-revelation, as well as a realization of worth and potential. “I've been making music as my sole income and as my hobby since 1997,” Grace reflects. “I was twelve, and Lilith Fair was at it's zenith, and my eyes were set on becoming singer songwriter and performing at Lilith Fair. Nevertheless, time is like the ocean smoothing over stones, and the energy and passion and excitement I felt at twelve has smoothed over a bit. Not to say that those things are gone, but they have been reconfigured in a way. What once was this sharp, clear goal has morphed into enjoying each and every moment of making music, purely for the joy and satisfaction that comes with it.”
Indeed in that regard, Grace’s career has been built on one accomplishment after another. “My first concert was the Tori Amos/Alanis Morrisette 5 ½ weeks tour,” she recalls. “I remember sitting there thinking, ‘Someday I’m going to be onstage with those people.” My favorite thing about this record is that my last producer was on that stage. He’s Tori’s bass player. Full circle!”
Nevertheless, she made her initial impact singing back-up vocals for such notables as Eddie Money and Joey Molland of Badfinger before venturing out on her own. “Covid year 2020 was a gift to me in that regard,” she reflects. “Time stopped. I reassessed. Is music-making a career that I really want to pursue? Would I rather go teach in a public school and have some kind of retirement plan?”
Ultimately, she realized on reflection that writing, recording and performing has put her on the path she was meant to pursue. With her new album, Maybe Modern, that realization comes to full fruition.
Music
“I’m The Apple is a treat for the ears on every track. ”
Press
“Her voice smacks of Jewel, and her style, cadence, song structure is every inch from the school of Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, Natalie Merchant. It’s uncanny. Had Morrison been born a decade earlier, she might’ve played Lilith Fair herself.
— Lauren Daley,/Boston Globe
“She is folk. She is pop. She’s unbelievably masterful behind the wheel of a guitar. Morrison’s vocal storytelling can make you cry; it can make you sing.”
— Emily Clark Old Colony Memorial
“Her songs, vocal delivery, melodies are certain to draw the listener in leaving them wanting more and more and more.”
— Jon Stein, Host/DJ Hootenanny Cafe WTBQ Radio
“Her songs are natural and pure, clear and silky. She has an ability to pick and choose influences and merge them into a sound that may be classified as “pop folk”, but has far more depth and layers to it.”
— Red Line Roots
It is a testament to her talent that Morrison sounds as good live as she does on her record.”
— Mark Gorman, Newport This Week
“Grace Morrison soars on perfect Americana roots album. I’m The Apple is a treat for the ears on every track. Morrison runs the gamut from rocking, country flavored verve to tender, emotive roots ballads on this I’m The Apple album. With subtle nuance and numerous individual parts, Morrison paints a stunning portrait of the modern American landscape with masterful lyrical details and an emotional force that cannot be denied.”
— BillCopelandMusicNews.com
"There’s a ton of music that I enjoy listening to, and then there’s music that feeds and nourishes and gives sustenance to the soul Grace’s music fits both he former and the latter.”
— Brian Mccloskey, Folk on Foul Rift House Concert
“I am in awe that such a young woman would do a tribute to those of us who served, and particularly to those who fell. Thank you!”
—Vietnam Veterans of America (of Grace’s song Taking Johnny Home)
“With a crystal clear voice and songs that land squarely in your heart, Grace has something truly special.”
—Jon Evans, Brick Hill Studios (touring/studio bassist for Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Ben Folds, and Paula Cole)
“Grace’s voice is a reflection of herself-pure and true. She is an incredible talent mixing seemingly effortless musicality and original storytelling in the Country Folk and Americana genres.”
—John Mailloux, Grammy nominated recording engineer
Contact
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