Dean Morrison : Forging His Own Path

Rising fast in the Calgary music scene, Dean Morrison is a talented self-taught musician with soulful songs and exceptional guitar skills. Writing and producing his own songs, this 21-year-old graduated top of his class at the Academy of Production & Recording Arts in Calgary.

Loving to play anywhere and hitting open mic nights, his favourite place to perform is The House Coffee Sanctuary in the Kensington neighbourhood of Calgary. “It’s very comfortable, and it feels like home, and it’s a very supportive community there,” says Morrison. “The open mic is every Thursday, and I host it from time to time, and I’m almost always there for it.”

This gifted musician plays five instruments – guitar, bass guitar, piano, trumpet and drums – but his instrument of choice is the guitar. “I find that the interactive and expressive nature of the guitar can convey emotion in ways that most instruments cannot,” explains Dean. “You can really make a guitar do what your emotions want to do. On electric guitar, you can really make it cry and wail, and on the acoustic, you can really breathe life into a song that’s all its own. It amazes me that even after so many years of it being around, guitarists are always inventing new sounds and techniques, and it’s really hard to get bored with an instrument like that.”

Recently, Dean was in the Calgary Folk Music Festival Songwriting contest where he played Break From the Mold, an inspirational song about breaking away and forging your own path. The only one out of 16 contestants to play solo, he performed in the “Best Untapped Newcomer” category with family and friends listening just off stage. “I was very nervous, but I played through it and did well by the end,” recounts Dean. “It was deflating not to win anything, given the standard I’ve set for myself, but like everyone else told me at the time, it’s quite something to even be in the top 15 given the amount of people that entered.”

With his first full-length CD released just this year, Dean is getting his music out there and looks forward to playing on tour. But until then, he is growing by baby steps and enjoying every minute of it.
Dean’s space: www.myspace.com/deanmorrisonmusic