Award-winning “Native Americana” fingerstyle guitarist and Fort Collins-area songwriter, Cary Morin has earned an enduring and admired reputation for her genre-bending musical talent and exploration of new cultural influences and musical styles. The upcoming release of Innocent Allies offers a new perspective. Add new media to the fold.
“This album is a collection of songs inspired by the famous Western painter Charlie Russell and my life in Great Falls, Montana, where Charlie lived and worked.” said Maureen, who was born in Billings, State.
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“My father was a member of the Assiniboine tribe from Wolf Point, Montana, and my mother was from the Crow tribe from Lodge Grass, Montana,” he recalls. “As a child, I was surrounded by music and art, and also Charles Marion Russell, a favorite artist and local hero of my father and grandfather, Robert Yellowtail. His work is everywhere. There he was. On the walls of our homes, businesses, family homes, and in our state capital. As a Montanan, knowing his work is like knowing Montana's mountains, rivers, and big Montana skies. was.”
In Innocent Allies (scheduled for release January 26, 2024), Morin observes the details of Charles M. Russell's paintings from the perspective of a native crow and makes them sing. “The situations depicted in his paintings are subtle cultural or ritual details that may not be obvious to some people,” Morin said of Russell's “Return of the Indian Hunter.” Point out that the elders are being served first. A customary gesture in Crow culture.
“As an Indigenous artist, I bring perspective to this aspect of Charlie's work through this series of songs.” Maurin also notes that Charles M. Russell was a friend of the Plains tribes and was concerned about the destruction of Indigenous culture. He is also quick to note that he depicted Native Americans in his paintings with a dignity rarely seen in other artists of the time. “This record is a masterpiece worthy of being one of the great works of art created to honor it,” says Grammy Award-winning producer Trina Shoemaker, who mixed and mastered the album in her Alabama studio. .
Morin talked about the first single from Innocent Allies, “Big Sky Sun Goes Down,” which was the driving force behind the album itself. “
“This album started with an idea and a handful of CMR art books passed down from family,” Maureen recalls. “When I finally decided to sit down and write the words, I was sitting on a cliff overlooking the Colorado River in Rancho Del Rio, just outside of Bondo, Colorado. I looked back at the painting and listened to the sound of water flowing. While I was there, I wrote this first song.”
A sweet, waltzing ode to the Montana countryside, Morin cites Russell's When the Land Became God's, a painting that directly influenced “Big Sky Sun Goes Down.” He cites “Salute to the Robe Trade,'' “Pegans,'' “Enemy Country,'' and “Buffalo Hunt.'' Maureen sings the uplifting refrain with conviction: “Below us there’s a song for me/This land speaks to me/I can’t be frightened anymore.”
“My father's house was between Ulm and Great Falls, Montana, near the site of the Ulm Pishkun Buffalo Jump,” Maureen recalls. “The Missouri River was a half-mile walk from there. The spot where our house was built can be seen in many of the CMR paintings. It was just north of the river, facing Square Butte. It was in place.”
Fans can watch the music video for “Big Sky Sun Goes Down,” produced by Randy Perkins and Film Locale, and stream or purchase the single at this link. For more information, visit carymorin.com.
Innocent Allies tracklist:
Big Sky Sun Goes Down
I'm crazy waiting
waiting for chinook
oldtimer poems
good medicine
Killing the Blues
Return of the Indian Hunter
whiskey before breakfast
big nose george's outlaw blues
fire boat
Bullhead Lodge
Wally and Keoma
Where the road crosses a major watershed
montana sky
Internationally acclaimed as a mesmerizing live performer, Cary Morin's soul-stirring voice and incredible fingerstyle guitar playing have captivated audiences for decades. “Cary is a unique and wonderful player, songwriter, and singer. I have great respect for his style and technique,” says legendary multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Bromberg. “If you haven't listened to him yet, you should.”
Morin's career catalog includes the best of American roots music, including blues, folk, soul, and bluegrass, as well as the timeless and distinctive music of the countryside, from the Western Plains and Rocky Mountains to the rhythmic melting pot of the Deep South. The sounds are fused.
His music has reached millions of people through prestigious performances at venues such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, and through national television and radio programs. He has shared the stage with countless artists including Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, and Bonnie Raitt, and has won multiple awards, including two Indigenous Music Awards for Best Blues CD. When he's not performing in the United States or Europe, Morin finds inspiration in Northern Colorado, which he proudly calls his home.
