Before I get to the photos of T. Hardy Morris at Revival Fest on Saturday, let’s listen to some music.
Here’s “Share the Needle”, part of Morris’ series of videos filmed at Georgia’s Places in Peril. This one is at Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens in Summerville. The first couple minutes here are devoted to Finster himself — always a strange treat — and the song begins close to the 2 minute mark.
T. Hardy Morris’ Facebook page calls the sound alternative, country, and grunge. But Saturday’s show was dominated by another sound: rock. With some help from members of Roadkill Ghost Choir and Futurebirds, T. Hardy Morris and company played a short, tight set that set a high bar for the bands that followed.
Morris’ excellent debut solo album Audition Tapes has been out for over a year now. I don’t know what’s next on tap (I scouted around to talk to him after his set, but lost track of him and the time), but let’s hope for more of everything — more of the somewhat restrained solo work and more collaborations like those with his older band Dead Confederate and with the newer Diamond Rugs, which has members of Deer Tick, The Black Lips, and Los Lobos.
I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling a strange kinship with Morris’ music. As I get to the photos, I should say that I also feel a little kinship with his mother or whoever surely has told him over the years to comb the hair out of his face so that people can see his nice eyes.
