Sam Morris’s tracks on his debut CD have a range of moods and theme, but the emotional force behind them is hope.
By Rebecca Kellogg
Before the wheelchair, there was a bike.
In the summer of 1999, Sam Morris embarked on the ride of his life. Leading a youth group of nine teenagers, Morris set off on a grand adventure that would take 56 days peddling across a vast expanse of road. Morris, as the leader, was responsible for finding camping spots at night. By the end of the trip the group had peddled from Seattle, Washington, to the New Jersey shore.
“It was by far the most demanding thing I had ever done, both physically and mentally, since not only was I exhausted every day from averaging 80 miles a day with a bike that, with gear, weighed about 100 pounds, but also I was responsible for the well being of the entire group,” said Morris.
“After finishing the trip, I felt that I had the physical and mental strength to handle anything.”
Bicycling was not the only area where Morris pushed himself. For several years he had been studying music–bass guitar, percussion, and a little bit of piano.
He was a student of guitar from an early age. At 18 Morris enrolled at Boston’s Berklee College of Music for three semesters. He later transferred to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he studied with jazz legend Yusef Lateef and played guitar in a group called “The Band Formerly Known As . . .”
The music was going well.
“Ten days before my injury, I teamed up with a group of about fifteen musicians and played a Parliament Funkadelic tribute show for Hampshire Halloween,” he said. “It was an absolutely amazing show, where for the first and only time in my experience I felt as though the energy of the audience and the band had completely merged–maybe that’s just because it was Hampshire Halloween, though! Also, every Monday morning I would play in Yusef Lateef’s Jazz Performance Seminar, which stretched my musical imagination in new and exciting ways and gave me the opportunity to learn from a living legend.”
Life was good and the future looked promising.
A New Challenge, Unasked For
On November 10, 1999, at the age of 24, Morris was a passenger in a car that ran off the road and hit a tree. The driver had been drinking. The accident left Morris paralyzed from the waist down.
“I was devastated, and in compete shock,” said Morris. “Having the use of my legs was one of the most important things in my life. Not only did I lead bike trips but I was also an avid skier, snowboarder and hiker. I was extremely active and athletic. I had no idea what I was going to do without the use of my legs.”
It was a sharp curve in the road, but Morris determined to make the best of it. In March of 2000, Morris visited California for ten days to meet Emilie Conrad, a dancer, choreographer and developer of Continuum Movement, a holistic form of movement therapy.
“I wanted to do everything I could to try to walk again, and, from my experience, Continuum Movement was a source of great hope,” Morris said. “While working with Continuum didn’t get me walking again, it helped me to create a whole new sense of fluidity in my body, which then translated to fluidity in my life.”
After graduating from Hampshire College in May of 2001 and delivering the student commencement speech, Morris moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2001 to work more closely with Conrad.
But he faced an additional complication in addition to the loss of his legs: a pressure ulcer that had originally surfaced in August 2000 and continued to worsen eventually landed him in the hospital for multiple surgeries and a lot of healing time. Between November 2002 and January 2004 Morris spent seven and a half months in the hospital, mostly being required to lie very still so as not to disturb the surgical site.
It took time to heal both physically and psychologically, but Morris feels the debut CD he has spent three years crafting since his hospitalization has been cathartic and healing.
“I hope that other people are able to experience some of that,” he said. “Many people have mistaken the album for being religious. It wasn’t intended to be. But the beauty of music is that it is a universal language. What is part of a spiritual quest for healing for me can easily be religious for someone else, and that’s terrific.”
Debut Album
“The first song on the album, ‘Chasing Miracles,’ is a song born out of tremendous faith that following my inner voice can lead me to a life far beyond my wildest expectations,” Morris said. “The second song, ‘I Pray,’ came from a depressing time, where I was feeling the heaviness of the challenges that were far more than I ever asked for. ‘I’m Cryin’ Too’ and ‘American Dream’ are a departure from my internal process. ‘I’m Cryin’ Too’ is a bluesy torch song, and a plea to a lover to get whatever is on her mind off her mind so that we canboth sleep peacefully. ‘American Dream’ is a song about someone who has given up hope and succumbed to sloppy living. ‘Got a Reason’ is a journey from the dark recesses of depression to finding a reason to go on and be enthusiastic about living each day. The theme of hope is very much a part of every song on the album.”
Morris is donating a portion of his album’s proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project, which assists severely wounded veterans in adapting after their injuries.
“Being able to participate in disabled sports has been a huge part of my healing process,” Morris said. “I decided to contribute ten percent of my album sales to Wounded Warrior Project so I could help others to heal not just through my music, but through my donations.”
Today the road ahead is looking promising. Morris is putting together a band, with plans to play all over Los Angeles and beyond. And he is developing new projects as a songwriter.
“Now that I’ve completed ‘Chasing Miracles,’ it is time to dive into writing new music that moves people in different ways,” he said. “Expect to hear more funk, soul and instrumental jams. My live shows will become a place where you will be guaranteed a musical and emotional journey, where sadness, anger, happiness and funk collide in a sea of grooves.”
To hear selections of Sam Morris’s music, visit his website: www.myspace.com/sammorrismusic.
Rebecca Kellogg is a freelance writer based out of California. Read more of her work at www.rkellogg.blogspot.com/.
