Cory Morrow Acoustic Show

Happiness has always come naturally to Cory Morrow. With his rollicking, soulful, feel-good Texas country, he has made thousands jump on tabletops, shimmy, scream, and suspend worries for almost two decades, like a honky-tonk pied piper––and he shows no signs of stopping. But these days, Morrow is also devoted to something more.

“I’ve always been able to find happiness and help others find happiness,” he says. “But there’s a difference between happiness and joy. Now, I feel like there’s a deeper sense of joy that’s not circumstantial.”

That deep joy courses throughout The Good Fight, released June 16, 2015. The 15-song collection was recorded at East Austin’s 12th Street Sound and polished at the Zone Recording Studio in nearby Dripping Springs, Texas. Reflecting on the process from his home in Austin, Morrow says, “I want it to be right. Looking back on other albums, I feel like I’ve settled on certain things. And this time, I really don’t want to settle.”

Listening to The Good Fight, it’s immediately clear that this is a record brimming with guts, truth, and growth––not compromises.

Morrow sings hard, proving his smooth, fiery drawl has only gotten better with age. The music revels in a life full of love and purpose, drawing on gritty rock, thumping gospel, and Morrow’s signature juke-joint country. Many of the songs address faith and relationships, both human and holy, with urgency, gratitude, and wonder. “I think there has always been a thread of spirituality in everything I’ve done––I’ve always been searching for something more,” he says. “But in the last five or six years, I’ve started to actually find it. And in the last three or four years, I’ve begun to come into really deep contact with it––to walk in it.”

As a songwriter, Morrow has retained his token wit and self-deprecating humor, two traits that play well with the album’s loftier themes. His circle of collaborators continues to expand: Nashville aces Brian Keane and Mando Saenz, along with Texas troubadours such as Carter Beckworth, joined an existing cast of favorites that includes the sagacious Owen Temple.