More Info on Bill MorrisseySimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Review|date=March 2009 Bill Morrissey (November 25, 1951 & ndash; July 23, 2011) was an American folk music|folk singer/songwriter from New Hampshire . Many of his songs reflect the harsh realities of life in crumbling New England mill town s.
Career
Morrissey was born in Hartford, Connecticut . He seems to have found his craft and his own voice in the American country blues of Mississippi John Hurt and Robert Johnson (musician)|Robert Johnson , the pure country of HankWilliams , the Kansas City jazz of Count Basie and Lester Young , and the New York folk songwriters of the 1960s.Citation needed|date=March 2010 His eponymous (i.e., self-titled) first album released in 1984 on the Reckless label, and then re-recorded for the Philo label, includes the song "Small Town on the River", a song about a small town in New Hampshire after the mill closes.
Over the course of his long career, two of Morrissey's eleven albums received Grammy nominations and several earned 4-star reviews in Rolling Stone .cite web|url= http://www.nhpr.org/letters-heaven-bill-morrissey |title=Letters from Heaven-Bill Morrissey |publisher=NHPR.org |date= |accessdate=2011-07-30 Stephen Holden, for the New York Times , wrote, "Mr. Morrissey's songs have the force of poetry...a terseness, precision of detail and a tone of laconic understatement that relate his lyrics to the stories of writers like Raymond Carver and Richard Ford.cite web|url= http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/23/arts/recordings-view-from-bill-morrissey-blue-collar-angst-with-a-folk-touch.html |title=RECORDINGS VIEW; From Bill Morrissey, Blue-Collar Angst With a Folk Touch - New York Times |publisher=Nytimes.com |date=1992-02-23 |accessdate=2011-07-30 He is also the author of the novel Edson (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf 1996) and the recently completed Imaginary Runner .
Although Morrissey expresses admiration for Carver's stories,cite web|url= http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/morrissey-bill-biography |title= Bill Morrissey Biography: Contemporary Musicians |publisher=Enotes.com |date= |accessdate=2011-07-30 he credits a fellow New Hampshire writer as a more important mentor and influence: quote| I used to hang out with this guy who taught at the University of New Hampshire who was a mentor of sorts. His name was Thomas Williams (writer)|Thomas Williams... He died in 1990. We often went fishing and hunting together. A good many of his friends were also writers and so when they'd get together the talk would go from rainbow trout to Eudora Welty to Upland hunting|rough grouse . So I just kept my mouth shut. There was a lot more I was going to learn than teach in that group. Tom always said, "just say what you mean as economically as possible and get out," and that's really what I try to do with my lyrics. Bill’s most recent album Come Running , produced by Bill Morrissey and Billy Conway of Morphine (band)|Morphine , was released in 2007 by Bill Morrissey on his label, Turn and Spin Media. Come Running features guitar work by Dave Alvin and the remaining members of Morphine, Billy Conway and Dana Colley . Bill planned on releasing a full collection of albums, books and guitar tabs on this new label.
Morrissey, best known for his often dark but always interesting and literate lyrics, also occasionally wrote such humorous songs as "Party at the U.N. " ("It's such a happy community / Everyone's got diplomatic immunity") and "Grizzly Bear", about a frustrated working-class gentleman dating a wealthy young woman who wants to "dance till we dehydrate", while he just wants to "take her home and dance the grizzly bear".
Death
Morrissey died of heart disease in Dalton, Georgia on July 23, 2011, during a tour of the Southern US.cite web|url= http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/07/26/folk_artist_bill_morrissey_has_died/ |title=Bill Morrissey, 59; folk artist traversed a range of emotions |publisher=Boston.com |date=2011-07-26 |accessdate=2011-07-30cite web|author=Christopher Hislop |url= http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110725-ENTERTAIN-110729863 |title=Goodbye Bill Morrissey |publisher=SeacoastOnline.com |date= |accessdate=2011-07-30cite web|url= http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Birches/message/1159 |title=Yahoo& #33; Groups |publisher=Launch.groups.yahoo.com |date= |accessdate=2011-07-30cite web|author=Mike Regenstreif |url= http://frfb.blogspot.com/2011/07/bill-morrissey-1951-2011.html |title=Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif: Bill Morrissey 1951-2011 |publisher=Frfb.blogspot.com |date=2011-07-24 |accessdate=2011-07-30
Discography
Bill Morrissey (1984)
North (1986)
Standing Eight (1989)
Bill Morrissey (re-recording of the 1984 album) (1991)
Inside (1992)
Friend of Mine (Greg Brown album)|Friend of Mine (with Greg Brown (folk musician)|Greg Brown ) (1993)
Morrissey, Bill (1996). Edson . Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44629-X
References
External links
http://www.billmorrissey.com/ Artist Site
http://billmorrissey.net/ Fan site (maintained by Ron Mura)
Persondata | NAME = Morrissey, Bill | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 1951-11-25 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = 2011-07-23 | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Bill Category:1951 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American male singers Category:American folk musicians Category:Songwriters from New Hampshire Category:Fast Folk artists Category:People from Hartford, Connecticut Category:Musicians from New Hampshire Category:Plymouth State University alumni
