James Morrison: ‘I always want to hear something honest’
James Morrison: "There is a line. I don't know where it is."
James Morrison has enjoyed incredible success since releasing his chart-topping debut single, , in 2006. But he has also endured unthinkable heartache, with his father, brother and nephew all dying within the space of three years a decade ago. When he sings about that period in his life in front of an audience, he often struggles to hold back the tears. Sometimes the dam simply bursts.
“I wrote a song about my dad, called . It’s probably the most personal song I’ve written about something. Every now and then I get over-emotional. I start crying,” Morrison (37) says. “You’ve got to find the line where you’re thinking, is this too honest? There is a line. I don’t know where it is. I like blurring it. And [approaching topics] that are slightly difficult to sing about. You can really get to grips with something.”
Today, earnest young men strumming guitars are hard to avoid. From George Ezra to Dermot Kennedy — not to mention Ed Sheeran, conquerer of galaxies — the boy-next-door has taken over pop.
That wasn’t at all the case when Morrison was coming through and he had to fight to be taken seriously in a scene dominated by “bad boy” rock bands such as The Libertines and Kings Of Leon and by disposable “EDM” dance acts. But he is still standing — and makes a long-awaited return to Ireland to perform at the Kaleidoscope Festival in Wicklow at the end of June.
“There were plenty of people writing songs before me,” he smiles. “But when there’s not much of it about, it looks like you’re the first one. It was just that, at that time, it was a lot of pop and dance music. A really good song is always a good song. They still come out — whether people like EDM or whatever they’re into. There’s always a good song that pops out. You can’t fight a good song.”
Fate probably had not intended for Morrison to become an internationally-acclaimed singer with records sales in excess of seven million. He grew up poor in Warwickshire, raised by his mother after his alcoholic father walked out when James was four.
Morrison came of age obsessed with artists such as Stevie Wonder and Van Morrison. But people from his background didn’t have a music career, he felt. It was while working as a van driver in Derby that he began to attend open mic nights at an Irish bar, Ryan’s Bar, and Scream.
Mustering the confidence to go before a crowd, he was soon attracting industry attention and was signed by Polydor Records. Looking back it feels that it was his willingness to write empathic, unfiltered lyrics about his personal experiences that spoke to the audience.
“I don’t necessarily want to hear deep and dark lyrics. It’s just about some sort of truth — some sort of honesty from a track,” he says. “Or a nice melody. It doesn’t have to be about the words all the time. I like listening to a nice melody. Or the cadences in the voice. The temperament of what they’re saying. It’s all of that. There are plenty of good singers, they are singing about stuff I’m not into — but their singing is great. It depends what you want out of it. I always want to hear something that is honest, sung in a melodic, soulful way.”
Having struggled with personal demons through his life, he found lockdown a mixed bag. With wife, Gill, and daughter Elsie (14) and Ava Rose (four) he was delighted to spend more time at home. But like many of us, as the pandemic went on and on, he began to feel restless.
“At the start it was a bit like, ‘oh we’ve got to put a hold on it’. It was nice. I don’t get to spend much time with my kids and be at home. And the weather was good. As we’re getting deeper into it, and you ain’t got nothing to look at but yourself — I struggled a bit. I started from the ground up again.
"I had to sort of build myself up. Be honest with myself. Look at what I hadn’t dealt with in my life. Loads of things. Once I got on top of that, I felt I could enjoy stuff again. If you haven’t got any direction, and you don’t know what you are aiming at… you’re just sort of drifting about. I think that happened to a lot of people because you couldn’t plan anything."
In February he released a “Greatest Hits”. But rather than a cheap cash-in, the record sees Morrison re-recording his catalogue, putting a new stamp on old material.
“I took me back to when I wrote the songs: where I was, what I was feeling. What I was trying to do. What I was thinking I was going to do... You try to direct them in a way you feel is right. They’re like paintings. You look back and think, ‘oh, I would have done that differently’. I try to get rid of the little things that annoy me. I tried to chill out some of the songs a little bit. Fundamentally I came away thinking I was proud of my younger self trying to write music that was real and about something in the midst of a lot of pop. I’ve straddled the line quite well: to have a [successful] career and write songs that are real.”
The record industry has never been easy, and Morrison is proud to have thrived in it for 15 years. Many of the artists around when he started have long since fallen into obscurity. He is still here, still making memorable music. And as he looks forward to a busy summer and that festival appearance in Wicklow, he takes huge pride in that.
“I went into music knowing I had nothing to lose,” he says. “I’m always going to write music and I’m always going to sing. And always going to play live. To what degree [of popularity] it doesn’t really matter to me. If I’m true to myself and honest in my writing and trust my instincts people will hopefully want to hear it.”
One of the early lessons he learned early on was that he had to be true to himself. There is a temptation to want to please everyone — your fans, your record company, your managers. But that way lies ruin. It is crucial that you hold on to that early vision. And that is what Morrison has done.
“Pleasing everyone to keep my career — I abandoned that quite early on. I probably wrote some poppier stuff back then. You look at things differently when you’re young. Now I’m older, I trusted my instincts differently on certain things. When I was going through a hard time I tried to write about it rather than shy away it. To hold my head up, even though it was tough. I feel more free when I’m singing and writing music. I love it.”
- James Morrison plays Kaleidoscope Music and Arts Festival, Russborough, Co Wicklow, running June 24 – 26
