Cary Morin
Saturday, October 8, 2022
Fort Collins, CO
Described as “one of the best acoustic pickers on the scene today,” Cary Morin brings together the great musical traditions of America like no other. With deft fingerstyle guitar and vocals that alternately convey melodic elation and gritty world-weariness, Morin crafts an inimitable style often characterized as roots-infused Native Americana with hints of bluegrass, folk, blues, and rock. He has performed at renowned venues across the globe, including the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, and is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades. David Bromberg remarks, "Cary Morin is a unique and brilliant guitar player, songwriter and singer. As a guitar player, I have huge respect for Cary’s style and technique…. If you haven’t heard him yet, you should. Try to remember that it’s only one guitar.” Music critic Bill Hurley writes, “His guitar skill is jaw-dropping, his voice is warm, worn of world experience, and his songwriting allows both of those things to flourish and captivate anyone in the room.”
A tribute to the American South, Morin’s seventh solo release, Dockside Saints, was produced and engineered by multi-Grammy winner Tony Daigle at the renowned Dockside Studio. The album is an expansive musical vision, merging Cary’s celebrated style of Americana with the spirit and sounds of Cajun, Creole and Zydeco music. Fueled by a band of Lafayette-area heavyweights, it jumps out of the gates with rocking New Orleans rhythms and then wades deep into lyrical ballads. Throughout, the album is punctuated with head-bobbing southern grooves. Its sound ranges from exuberant to subtle, while exploring themes of love, faith, hardship, and heritage. Cary comments, “This collection of songs represents our annual migration, just as my ancestors migrated from this region to the Western Plains so many centuries ago, sharing culture through music and more along the way. It is the product of our imagination of what was, and what has become our love of the sounds of the South.”
As an internationally touring musician, Cary has performed in the US, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, and the UK. He has played renowned venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Paris Jazz Festival, Winter Park Jazz Festival, Folk Alliance International, River People Festival, Shakori Hills Festival, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Rochefort En Accords festival in France, Copenhagen Blues Festival, and many more. His music has reached millions on national TV in Japan, France, and the UK, as well as on national radio in the US (NPR’s Beale Street Caravan), UK (BBC’s Whose London), France (RFI), Switzerland, and Belgium.
In addition to his solo pursuits, Cary performs with his band Cary Morin & Ghost Dog, a high-energy roots rock band. He also collaborates with Will Kimbrough, Grayson Capps, and Corky Hughes in a group known as Rancho Deluxe.
Morin was born in Billings, Montana. A Crow tribal member with Assiniboine Sioux and Black heritage, and son of an air force officer, he spent the bulk of his youth in Great Falls, where he cut his teeth picking guitar standards at neighborhood get-togethers. When not touring the US and Europe, he calls Northern Colorado home.