Cahalen Morrison – Wealth Of Sorrow
Originally hailing from the high desert of Northern New Mexico, Cahalen has made a name for himself. Over the past decade touring solo, as a duo with Eli West, or with his band Western Centuries, Cahalen has performed on stage with the likes of Tim O’Brien, Kelly Joe Phelps, Hot Rize, Crooked Still and Kris Drever. Equally at home on guitar, banjo, mandolin, singing three part harmony or unaccompanied, he has carved out a place for himself as a unique voice in American music. His songs feel immediately familiar, but his unmistakeable voice stamps them with a signature that is undeniably his own.
Wealth of Sorrow was recorded in an abandoned adobe chapel in the remote village of Jaroso, on the border of New Mexico and Colorado. Cahalen’s childhood home, lies only 50 miles away as the crow flies. In the sagebrush flats at the foot of the Sangre de Christo mountains, Erick Jaskowiak set up a mobile recording rig in the old church, and they went to work. In just a day and a half they tracked the ten songs that make up Wealth of Sorrow.
It was a small sanctuary from the wind, a light filled, drafty room with a woodstove burning and a chair with some microphones in the middle. It is Cahalen’s first, true solo recording. The collection of songs were mostly new, written in the year leading up to the recording, while a couple were revamped from much older ideas, and one cover of a traditional Scottish ballad. Raw, emotional and haunting to match the high desert landscape. Nothing virtuosic, nothing tamed, just real songs.
“Month of May” is a banjo driven song written in hard times, about knowing there would be better times to come. The lyrics and the music were composed separately, but fell together seamlessly, which stoked the fire of optimism that already fueled the song.
The title track, “Wealth of Sorrow” is the truest of ballads. At once old and familiar, but fresh in perspective, the song evokes the feelings that everyone hopes they’ll have about someone. Undeniably about the truest of love, but heartbreakingly sad at the same time. That seems what life is like sometimes, and it’s where Cahalen is at his very best.
“All Over Babylon” was written on a particularly rainy day in Wales. As Cahalen recalls, “I had the day off, on tour, and was sitting around playing a friends’ old parlor style guitar, and it just flowed out. It was in the tiny amount of research that I did that I learned Noah had quite a liking for the wine!”
“My Girl’s Heavy” is a song that Cahalen wrote it years ago, but it’s never felt like it was quite finished. He reworked again and again, until this version is what finally settled. The final incantation was born from the feeling of needing to move on, and looking ahead, all while still knowing and respecting where you came from, and why you are where you are.
Cahalen has played all over the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Ireland and much of Western Europe, and at festivals such as MerleFest, Red Wing Roots, Rockygrass, Wintergrass, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Strawberry Music Festival, Sisters Folk Festival, Meadowgrass, Timber!, Shetland Folk Festival, Larmer Tree, Kilkenny Roots Festival, TradFest Edinboro, Celtic Connections, Bluegrass Jamboree.
Press Materials
One Sheet
Credits
Cahalen Morrison – Guitar, Banjo and Vocals
All songs written by Cahalen Morrison (Hanktown BMI) except ‘Young Jaime Foyers” (Trad., from the singing of Sheila Stewart)
Recorded live and mixed by Erick Jaskowiak in Jaroso, Colorado, April 22 & 23, 2019
Mastered by Dave Sinko, Nashville, Tennessee
Artwork by Niki Sherey (www.nikikeenan.com)
Design and Layout by Matt Ballew and Charlie Wagers