Hailing from Plainfield, Illinois, Laurie Morvan was
surrounded by lots of music as her dad was into country
sounds, her mom listened to pop tunes and young Laurie
enjoyed rock 'n' roll. She got her musical
start in school bands by playing the flute for concert
season and the drums during marching season.
"When I was a teenager, a buddy had an acoustic
guitar and I said, 'Oh what's that?' And when
I played it I said 'Oh My God - the whole world changed!'
I started playing guitar and got more and more into
it, and it became my life's passion," Laurie shares.
"I figured that every musician has to earn money
outside of music and I decided that I had to make sure
that I could make some money." A bachelor's degree
in Electrical Engineering at University of Illinois
and a move to California to obtain her masters in Applied
Mathematics at Cal State Long Beach (home of the Long
Beach Blues Festival) assured that premise. After working
as an engineer at TRW for a few years, Laurie began
to play music full time. "In the 80's I lived on
rice cakes and peanut butter till I bought my acoustic
Martin D28. I learned to play guitar by listening to
my favorite songs and playing along. I spent hours on
the guitar. Shortly after that I decided that I wanted
to play lead guitar and so I got myself a Les Paul Custom,
but shortly after that I decided that I was a Strat
girl after playing a Stratocaster. I purchased a red
Strat then which I still have.
I played top forty songs with several bands but I
found out that some bands didn't want a girl lead
guitarist so I started my own band," she shares.
"Forming my own band was the greatest thing in
the world. I've been lucky finding people who
enjoy playing the music that I write and we all get
along."{ The band consists of Kevin Murillo on
drums, Pat Morvan (her ex-husband) on bass, Lisa (Grubbs) Morvan
and Carolyn Kelley on background vocals.
"A friend of mine turned me on to Stevie Ray Vaughan
and through Stevie I could see that he shone the light
back upon all of the people who had influenced him.
When I discovered the blues I said, 'Oh My God - this
is what I'm going to do with my life!' My music
is such an amalgam. I like a well-written song in any
genre. I think that the most important thing that you
can do as a musician is to write a great song. I spend
as much time on my song writing as I do on my guitar
playing. I want to be able to write a song that somebody
wants to listen to over and over again and connect with,
and then the guitar playing on top of this moves them
further into the song" Laurie explains. "I
spend a lot of time with my guitar in my hands. I walk
around my house with my guitar in my hands and play
unplugged. Practicing this way, I think that it makes
you play cleaner - you can't cheat.
Songs come in several ways: I may feel it in the back
of my mind and the topic is oftentimes something I'm
working through in my life. One day when I'm picking
up my guitar, boom! - out it comes and I write the words
into a notebook. Whatever I'm doing, if the words come
to me I stop and attend to those words as they are gifts
and you have to respond when you're given that gift.
Right now my cell phone is full of messages to myself
singing songs," she reveals.
"My main guitar now is a Fender '56 Custom Shop
reissue Stratocaster in black with a gold pickguard
- it feels like home and it's a joy to pick up and play.
I purchased my wonderful Tone King Meteor II 40 watt
twin twelve amp just before I recorded my new CD Cures
What Ails Ya. My sister works at a Post Office in Cincinnati
and she sold fifty CDs in one week just by letting her
coworkers hear my recording! The title comes from the
song "One Little Thing" as Laurie explains
that you have to find that "one little thing that
cures what ail ya. My belief in life is that is how
we get through and for me, music is that thing. It's
what fixes anything that's ever been wrong with me."
Her advice for the next blues generation is for new
musicians "to follow their passion. Follow where
your heart takes you and then pursue it with fervor
and veracity and passion and love and respect. They
should go wherever they want to go with it. I would
never tell anyone that 'you need to play the blues this
way.' Work hard and practice and follow the sound that
you hear in your head."
In responding to those in the Southland who have come
out to see her perform, Laurie humbly says, "I
genuinely appreciate the audiences that we get to play
for - they are so receptive to us. The music business
can be difficult but you put us on a stage and people
respond, and the outpouring that we get from the Southern
Califfornia blues and blues/rock crowd means so much
as they come up to us and say how the music touches
them. I am really appreciative of that."
You can catch Laurie Morvan and her band live at the
Huntington Beach Hyatt on July 14th and at Steve's
BBQ in Whittier on July 28th. All three of her CDs can
be obtained via her website at www.lauriemorvan.com.
Her song, "Kickin' Down Doors" has been selected
as the "Blues Breaker" song of the week for
the "House of Blues Radio Hour" Hosted by
Dan Akroyd and will air on the weekend of July 7th and
8th.
