Kansas City, MO · indie folk · singer-songwriter

Kevin Morby

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Loose-limbed, Dylan-shaped American songwriting, delivered like he has all the time in the world — road-dog albums that keep quietly stacking up.

Kevin Morby was born in Lubbock, Texas, and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where his family settled after his father's work with General Motors took them around the country. He learned guitar at ten and formed a teenage band called Creepy Aliens. At seventeen he dropped out of high school, earned his GED, and moved to New York, supporting himself with bike delivery and café jobs.

In New York he became known as the bassist in the noise-folk band Woods. He also grew close to Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls, and the two formed a side project, The Babies, releasing two albums together. Morby began his solo career in the early 2010s after moving to Los Angeles.

His songs sit in a folk-rock and singer-songwriter tradition, with plainspoken vocals and unhurried tempos. Arrangements range from solo acoustic to full band with piano, horns and gospel-tinged backing voices, and individual records have often been shaped around the particular places he has lived, with writing that returns repeatedly to travel, cities and mortality.

His debut, Harlem River (2013), was recorded with producer Rob Barbato as an homage to New York, with guests including Cate Le Bon and Tim Presley. Still Life followed in 2014, Singing Saw in 2016 with Sam Cohen, and City Music in 2017, recorded with his touring band near Stinson Beach.

Morby has also released duo recordings with Waxahatchee, including a Velvet Underground cover and a tribute to songwriter Jason Molina, and the protest song 'Beautiful Strangers.' Later albums, several issued by Dead Oceans, include Oh My God (2019), Sundowner (2020), This Is a Photograph (2022) and Little Wide Open.

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indie folksinger-songwriter