"...real, honest-to-goodness
blues that informs the passionate blues rock of singer/songwriter/guitarist
Laurie Morvan... "
Having a womanizing, alcoholic father desert your family
when you're 5 years old certainly would scar you
for life. But perhaps this traumatic experience is at
least part of the real, honest-to-goodness blues that
informs the passionate blues rock of singer/songwriter/guitarist
Laurie Morvan.
The Illinois-born, Long Beach-based Morvan discovered
contemporary blues through Texas legend Stevie Ray Vaughan.
It was by digging deeper into Vaughan's influences
that she fell in love with such classic blues musicians
as Robert Johnson, Big Mama Thornton, Luther Allison and
Etta James, among others. Over the years, Morvan has turned
her curiosity, constant practicing and driving ambition
into a self-sustaining career that has produced three
albums, including her solid, brand-new Cures What
Ails Ya.
Morvan cut her teeth playing numerous dive bars and clubs,
putting up with sexist club owners and others who couldn't
handle a smart female leading her own blues band. (A note
to the ignorant: Morvan has a B.S. degree in electrical
engineering and a master's in applied math, the latter
from Cal State Long Beach.) In addition to her feeling-filled
vocals and versatile guitar work - sometimes it's burning
power chords, sometimes intricate single notes - what
makes this inspiring woman so special is her undeniable
self-confidence and perseverance.
Morvan and her band - featuring bassist Pat Morvan and
vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Carolyn Kelley and Lisa
Grubbs - play with equal parts reckless abandon and skilled
precision, depending upon the tone and structure of each
selection. So how true-to-life do you think empowering
originals like "Kickin' Down Doors," "When
I'm Queen" and "Keep on Believin'" are?
Very.
The Laurie Morvan Band performs as part of the Hyatt Regency
Summer Concert Series at Pete's Sunset Grille, 21500 Pacific
Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach, (714)698-1234; www.huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com,
Sat., 7 p.m.
