WUOT air date: May 7
UTTV air dates: March 19, 20, 22, 23 (all showings at 8pm except on Thursday at 7pm)
Flip Side air date: April 2
Songs Performed:
Video archive: Watch the entire episode on the embedded player on this page or visit our YouTube channel
Audio podcast: Coming Soon!
About RB Morris:
RB Morris is a singer-songwriter, poet, playwright who has spent most of his life in Knoxville and in the mountains of East Tennessee. He grew up on old-time music and rock 'n' roll, but an older brother pointed him to other influences—Southern writers, the novels of James Joyce, Arthur Rimbaud, and the music of Bob Dylan. He played his way through the clubs and honkytonks of the mountains, first with bands with old-time fiddlers and then later with groups that rocked. He traveled the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe, then back up into the Appalachians, where he lived for a year in near seclusion in a primitive cabin. Later, on the road to San Francisco—the patron city of the Beats—he moved in the circles that surrounded poet Gregory Corso and made friends with Kerouac biographer Gerry Nicosia.
Back in Knoxville, RB focused on writing and performing his poetry, edited a literary magazine, and wrote and starred in a one-man play about the turbulent life of writer James Agee, who grew up in Knoxville. When he returned to playing music with bands, he mixed his poetry-as-performance-art with original songs to create provocative and unpredictable shows.
RB went to Nashville in 1997 and hooked up with writers Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and John Prine and made his debut CD, Take That Ride, on John Prine's O Boy Records. Many music journalists and magazines across the country reviewed Take That Ride as one of the top 10 CDs of the year. Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone called it “the kind of debut that makes you lust for a follow-up.”
Zeke and the Wheel on Koch Records followed in 1999, and was nominated for Americana CD of the Year by the American Federation of Independent Merchandisers. RB’s most recent release, Empire (2007), presents five new songs that reflect his remarkable live shows, resonating with honky-tonk energy and inspired episodes of poetry.
Learn more about RB Morris and his work at rbmorris.com.
