Hunter Morris is the kind of musician that has held on to his day job. It is a tale as old as time; a singer/songwriter churns out good work that improves and evolves over time. Yet, he still cannot find a large enough audience in the days of streaming to generate a full time income. So, on most mornings, Hunter Morris heads to work, pulling on a pair of waders and prepping the tackle for his fly fishing guide business, which takes him to rivers across northern Georgia.
Fishing and the outdoors have been integral to Morris’ life since he can first remember. Growing up in rural Georgia, Hunter ran wild in the woods, and along the streams of the area. Rural life may have offered a pastoral approach to living, but Morris found it deeply lacking in cultural enrichment. As much as he loved the natural surroundings and the fishing and hunting culture that abounded in his small town, he also longed to find a place with more culture and curiosity.
Eventually, Morris corralled his own curiosity and a new batch of songs to form his first real band Gift Horse. Although, they only released one album, 2010’s Mountain Of Youth, a title which Morris would be hard pressed to let go of, the band helped to set an important foundation. By 2017, he evolved into a poppier brand of slackened Americana with the outfit Hunter Morris & Blue Blood, which rattled off a trio of terrific albums in a handful of years. Now, Morris has emerged under the moniker Mountain Of Youth with a new batch of songs he’s christened Nowhere, NW.
During our rapid fire discussion, Hunter and I covered the musical evolution he has made from Gift Horse through Blue Blood and into Mountain Of Youth. This new project and the new album are an attempt by Morris to stand on his own two feet as a musician and as a songwriter. While he received production help on the record from Ben Hackett and enlisted a crew of excellent players, Morris also sought to open up and allow himself to be more vulnerable when writing and recording the new album.
Hunter talked openly about the sacrifices that are made to live like an artist. He shared a poignant story of how his former high school classmates have gone from deriding his pursuit of a life built around fishing and music to reminding him how lucky he is to do what he loves. Morris then quickly pointed out that while there is always a degree of luck in life, it takes an incredible amount of work and discipline to run your own business and to work to make a name for yourself in the music business. We discussed the idea of making your own luck, the surety that everything will fall apart sooner or later, and the joy of seeking out the freaks in this world.
Let’s get into it.
Cheers,
Matty C
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End Credits
Thanks so much to Hunter for joining me. You can find the new Mountain of Youth album wherever you get your music and you can follow him on Bandcamp at https://mountain-of-youth.bandcamp.com
The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C.
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