 Laurie
Morvan Band - Live at The Highdive, Champaign IL
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Laurie Morvan Band
website: www.LaurieMorvan.com
Picture
this: a five piece group in which three members are
female. At one point the male bass player is given
a solo. After Pat Morvan’s ripping riffs on a six-string
bass, band leader Laurie Morvan says to the audience,
“I know exactly what all of you are thinking. ‘He’s
pretty good for a boy!’” That brought howls of laughter
from the audience and even Laurie herself. Beyond
the humor, Laurie Morvan is dead serious about evening
the guitar-playing field for both genders.
“Where Are All The
Girls With Guitars” is the third track on Laurie’s
highly acclaimed and door opening third album, “Cures
What Ails Ya.” This number is performed live with
particular relish. Prior to the song, Laurie revealed
the inspiration for it (as she did prior to many numbers).
Having heard on the radio Wynonna Judd’s “Girls With
Guitars,” Morvan had hurried to buy the CD and tear
it open to learn who all the girls with guitars were
on the record. To her dismay, all the players were
hairy legged boys.
 On
most numbers, the energized, leg kicking, stage pacing
Morvan played the guitar intensely hard. It was obvious
she liked being on the edge of all that amplified
power – sort of like a surfer riding on the edge of
a huge wave. At one point, Laurie left the stage with
a wireless transmitter and walked through the crowd
– even taking a swagger up and down the bar top.
Morvan also performs
songs with utmost sincerity. During the sound check,
she told the tech, “Make sure the vocals can be heard,
otherwise, what’s the point?” Indeed, she and her
two backup singers and bass player laid down some
beautiful harmonies and meaningful messages in the
lyrics. Morvan established great rapport with the
audience by not only telling song inspirations but
also sharing e-mails she has received about what one
of her songs has meant to a fan. On one slow number,
the deeply personal “Family Line,” she was even brought
to tears. Possibly that was because her Illinois mother
and step father were seated in the audience along
with a van load of friends.
I must admit my ignorance,
before this show all I knew was that Morvan is from
California. Well, it turns out that she is originally
from Plainfield, Illinois, about an hour from my Illinois
home. Her Champaign IL gig turned out to be a homecoming
of sorts as she is a University of Illinois graduate
who was an MVP on the volleyball team in the mid 1980s.
Her old coach was in attendance along with several
girls way taller than me (and thinner).
 The
Laurie Morvan Band is the most unique five piece troupe
I have seen. Upfront is Laurie on guitar and lead
vocals. Beside here are two female back up singers,
Lisa (Grubbs) Morvan and Carolyn Kelley, who add tambourine
and shaker percussion. Also adding vocals are bassist
Pat Morvan, and drummer Kevin Murillo is the fifth
member and only other male. So, basically, it is a
power trio with two backup singers.
Across two sets, Morvan
and band gave it their all on mainly their original
numbers like “Kickin’ Down Doors,” the fun “My Baby
Says,” the inspirational “Keep On Believin,’” and
(my favorite) the wonderful three-part-a-cappella-opener,
harmony-guitar-fest “Way Down/One Little Thing.”
I was glad to be Where
this Girl With Guitar was Sunday night, and I can
not wait for her Midwest return tour “next summer,
or maybe January ‘09.” Stay tuned!
Reviewer
James “Skyy Dobro” Walker is a noted Blues writer,
DJ and Blues Blast contributor. His weekly radio show
“Friends of the Blues” can be heard each Thursday
from 4:30 – 6:00pm on WKCC 91.1 FM in Kankakee, IL |
