We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Morris recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
Oh, how much do I love this question!
There’s a book that’s been incredibly important in my creative life (and I know many others feel the same) – The Artists’ Way, by Julia Cameron. When I first read it, there’s quite a bit early on about processing any stories that you received as a young person that art might not be a valid career path and I remember reading this chapter on a treadmill in Nashville, TN and thinking – hey! My parents did NOT tell me that story! Lucky Me!
20 years later, I feel the same – lucky me! My parents, Joe and Teresa, have only ever been incredibly supportive. Never pushy, just very much ‘oh, you want to try that, ok!’. They are both huge music lovers, my mom has a lovely singing voice and would be a wonderful rock star someday, and my dad used to run sound for bands in town, and then later just always made sure that we had the very best speakers we could afford. They came to every choir concert, recital, sorta-kinda-gig, actual gig. They paid for piano lessons, voice lessons, college (expensive voice lessons).
When I fell in love with the one genre of music they didn’t like (Country) they got on board as fast as possible. When I moved to Nashville they cheered me on. When I told them I didn’t want to be a country star, but I wanted to write all the songs, they kept cheering. Since I’ve moved home, they have stayed up late to watch me sing in dive-y bars, they’ve bought tickets to my fancier shows, they’ve given my CDs to friends…the list goes on and on.
I remember being in college and receiving an email from my Dad that was short, and managed to say the exact right thing that I needed to hear at that moment. I printed it out in the computer lab and kept it for years.
I feel so incredibly fortunate to have parents who only ever made me think that music-making was a 100% valid life path. That way I can get all up in my head about plenty of the OTHER things in music – ha!
Sarah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a singer/songwriter. A mama, a wife, a big dreamer. I am constantly inspired by the community of music makers and artistic humans around me and I aim to find ways to bring folks together as much as possible.
I fell in love with Country music, and more importantly, country SONGWRITING back in the mid-90s, after mostly being devoted to Mariah Carey. After attending Lawrence University Conservatory of Music for Music Ed/Vocal Emphasis, I spent 4 years in Nashville, TN. While there I bartended, waited tables, learned about co-writing, learned about songwriter rounds, witnessed stars shooting right up to the sky, witnessed people plugging away at their craft day after day after year after year. I loved it.
My husband and I moved back to MN where I was delighted to find out I could sing and GET PAID FOR IT! (Thanks to Ingredients Cafe in White Bear Lake for giving me my first gig :). I started to sing out a few times a month, and over the next 8 years slowly built up a band, recorded two albums, wrote a few songs, had two babies.
In 2014, I joined a group of strangers on Facebook that promised to write a song a week based on a prompt. Joining that group changed my life. It brought me into community with so many wonderful humans, and also led me to a writing practice/devotion that has served me well, both in my heart and in my career. Prior to joining the group I would say I was a songwriter, but I wasn’t writing songs, and at some point, that didn’t feel solid to me anymore. I am eternally grateful to Laurel Hay for the gift of the Singer/Songwriter Songwriting Challenge.
Since 2014 I’ve released 4 more albums, plus 2 EPs. I’ve begun to travel for music, including a few wonderful songwriting competitions in NYC, Texas, and North Carolina. I play somewhere around 100 shows a year, either solo, with one of my dear collaborative friends (Vicky Emerson, Matthew French, Haley E Rydell, Jillian Rae, Annie Fitzgerald, Dan Rumsey – to name a few), or with my band, The Sometimes Guys (so named, because they play with me SOMETIMES!). Thomas Nordlund, Andrew Foreman, Lars-Erik Larson, Zach Schmidt, Dave Mehling, Nick Salisbury – all of these humans have been such a crucial part of my musical journey over the last decade. Inspiring the heck out of me on the regular. I am so grateful.
In addition to performing and writing, I have a YouTube series called “Toilet Tunes” that has been going since 2016. The premise is – a musician comes to my house, we practice a cover as little as possible, then we tape ourselves singing it and put it on the internet. TT has been SUCH a joy. It gives me a chance to collaborate with musicians in the daylight, and have a little conversation with them without the white noise of a bar in the background. The viewers have formed their own little community as well, and it’s such a delight to know that on Fridays at noon I will meet Wiley, Roberto, Dave, etc in the chat while we all watch the latest episode together from our respective locations. I also love having a space where I can say pretty loudly PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING MUSICIAN!!! GO BUY THEIR MUSIC.
Last year, I began a partnership with the fantastic blog Adventures in Americana called ‘About That Song’. A weekly written interview, I talk with songwriters about the pivotal songs in their journey. I’ve learned so much in this process, and again – another opportunity to say loudly WE HAVE SO MUCH TALENT ALL AROUND US GO TO THIS ARTIST’S SHOW!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Two things come to mind, here. One – singing and writing songs is FUN. So often, after a gig, there will be a wild text thread of “yay! good job! that was fun! etc.” One day it occurred to me, my non-musician husband does not engage in a similar thread at the end of his workday. What we do IS fun! And fun is (in my opinion) often undervalued. Sometimes by me, for sure – I forget. THEN I go write a song and have the most fun and I REMEMBER.
Two – and truly the most rewarding aspect – I get to engage with fellow humans in FEELING FEELINGS. I get to sometimes witness other people’s stories, or just sit in wonder at that person who is listening to me sing my songs and then says something afterwards to me that let me know…the song mattered. I’ve always loved music as a listener because a song will sometimes be the THING that makes me feel seen and known. I hope to offer this to someone else. Or to introduce someone to the local musician they need to feel seen and known.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I’m such a reader. In the last 12 years, writers of books, essays, hosts of podcasts – these people have been my professors!
I could for sure break any word limit you offer if I told you all of my favorites, but here is a short list of guiding lights!
Seth Godin: The Practice, and Seth’s Blog
Elizabeth Gilbert; Big Magic (book AND podcast)
Brene Brown: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, the podcast
Glennon Doyle: Untamed
Austin Kleon: Keep Going, Steal from an Artist, his Substack is fantastic
Jen Sincero: You Are A Badass at Money (really – especially the audiobook)
Anne Lamott: Bird by Bird (YES)
Luvvie Ajaye Jones: her weekly email, and also The Professional Troublemaker’s Guide
Julia Cameron: The Artists’ Way
Marie Forleo: her podcast can be a wonderful resource for businessy things
Jenna Kutcher: same
Greg McKeown: Effortless, Essentialism
James Clear: Atomic Habits
Joe Pug: The Working Songwriter Podcast
I could go on and on and I KNOW I’m forgetting something.
Currently I’m reading Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and I adore it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sarahmorrismusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahmorrismusic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahmorrismusic
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/sarahmorrismusic
Image Credits
Tom Smouse Nate Ryan | NPR Wolfskull Creative