Claude"Butch"Morgan

Artist Information

Biography

Able to hold any audience with his true to life songs, stories and sense of humor, he is a top notch entertainer who gives his best every gig.
He plasy the Mainstage at Kerrville Folk Festival on a semi-regular basis and tours all over North America, playing 200-280 gigs a year.
He has had his songs covered by the likes of The Georgia Satelites, the Dusters, the Flying A's, Mitch Web & the Swindles and others
He has won several notable songwriting awards including The Wildflower Music Festrival Song Writing Contest,finalist in the Mountain Stage Newsong Competition 08', finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival Newfolk Contest (05' & 08'), and honorable mention in the recent Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest.

***

Butch has been a regular on the San Antonio music scene since the 70s, breaking ground by merging Country, Rock, Folk and all the other influences in his life into original songs filled with insightful lyrics and catchy melodies. Other artists cover his material and his songs have virtually become anthems.
He has also refined the craft of 'putting on the show', a consummate ringmaster making sure a good time is had by all. Crowds of loyal fans all over Texas sing along with his originals and marvel at the energy and the innovative new twists he brings to the standards.

Instrumentation

Claude 'Butch' Morgan- with a Guitar and Vocals can and does play anywhere anytime!
One guy-one guitar and a suitacse full of top notch songs, or a full band He is ready for any occasion.
VENUES:
Kerrville Folk Festival ( Performer & Newfolk 05'&08' )
Wildflower Music Festival Songwriting Contest Winner & Performer
Anderson Fair
Uncle Calvin's
Open Door Coffeehouse
San Antonio Rodeo
Casbeers Wed. Nite Open Mic (6 Years Running)
Honorable mention Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest

Discography

OX Shoot That Gun 45 rpm 1970
Buckboard Boogie Boys Clickety Clack 45 rpm 1976
Buckboard Boogie Boys Lucky to be Live.1978
Blast EP 1984
Dry Bones 2003
Open Soon 2004
Blast to the Past 2004 (compilation from the 80s)
Serious 2008
H!X Really Live 2007 (Kingdom and Eddie- radio airplay)
Buckboard Boogie Boys "Better Late Than Never" 08'
Claude"Butch"Morgan "Serious" 08"
Talk About 2010 Eleven new songs released in June.

Official Website

http://www.butchmorgan.com

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace

Audio

• Mr. Blue
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• Sad Cafe
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• Look What You Done
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Lyrics

• Mr. Blue
• Sad Cafe
• Look What You Done

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• H!X Really Live [+ Show ]
  

  HIX “Really Live” Yea-Hawlleluja Productions From the 70s of The Buckboard Boogie Boys, the 80s o...HIX
  “Really Live”
  Yea-Hawlleluja Productions
  From the 70s of The Buckboard Boogie Boys, the 80s of The Blast and now in the 21st Century, Butch Morgan and HIX have exceeded their fans wildest dreams with this release of their most popular original and cover songs - all recorded live - really live - directly out of the PA with no overdubs, re-takes, smoke, mirrors and no net. This is HIX in honest audio glory.
  Anyone who has any knowledge of Texas music in the last few decades is familiar with Claude “Butch” Morgan. He has been one step ahead of the musical pack - satirizing musical genres just prior to their being popular. The Buckboard Boogie Boys were performing great Americana - some tongue-in-cheek just before the Redneck Rock craze hit Austin. In the 80s Butch was already in the post punk era with his widely popular and critically acclaimed band, The Blast. Although Butch is a man of faith, there is no musical genre sacred enough to avoid his strong wit and musicianship. An ad hoc reggae version of a Hank Williams song may not be for the Country purists but it underlines something that most people don’t realize - sans dreadlocks, Hank Williams writes great reggae songs. Leave it to HIX to prove it.
  Thought provoking lyrics are a Butch Morgan standard and one of the downfalls of HIX music is that listening to the music sometimes requires that you think to “get it” which is why Brittany fans avoid HIX like the plague. I think it is pretty safe to say that if you don’t enjoy a HIX concert, you aren’t “getting it.”
  “Really Live” is an accurate description of the new CD as it was recorded in the environment closest to HIX hearts - before a live audience. The CD was recorded at the now defunct Esquire Tavern, Kerrville’s Watering Hole, Luckenbach, Casbeers and “Someplace Else.”
  Claude and HIX have had a good run so far this year. Butch won the Wildflower Music Festival songwriting contest, was a finalist for the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk award and HIX performed at Quiet Valley’s Threadgill Theater at this year’s festival. The HIX future is looking very bright indeed.
  There is gold in them hills for all die hard HIX fans; whether gnarly old hippie fans from the 70s like myself or the newfound audiences HIX have won over up in recent years. The CD has eleven tracks - most of which are penned by Butch and a couple irreverent and rockin’ covers. Included are a three of my personal favorites from The Blast era - “WhattsaMatta,” “Dressin It Up,” and the nutty as a fruitcake “Slingin’ Language.” The covers are great renditions of evergreens, “I Got You (I Feel So Good)” and the perennial “Wooly Bully.” HIX approach the songs from off axis and put a great new twist on both of these tunes.
  I suspect one of the reasons HIX are so popular is that the musicians are all world-class. The masked man on bass who has been joined at the hippest to Butch for years is Robert “Robar” Adams, RB handles all the keyboard work - which means every instrument known to man that can be sampled and Claude’s son Trevor providing the rock steady groove that is a HIX signature.
  The CD was produced and mastered by a master - RB Blackstone who has some of the best ears in Texas. His skills are reflected in the sonic quality of this CD - that was not recorded in a sanitary studio environment but more challenging environments - Texas Honky-tonks. RB goes into production with, “the room we have” and makes it all sound great.
  What’s coming up for HIX? Get down to Casbeer’s in San Antonio on Saturday September 15th for the HIX CD Release Party. Butch has been hosting a Wednesday showcase at Casbeers for over five years with the Happy Campers and this show is sure to pack the room to the rafters as a full-blown and formal HIX appearance is a relatively rare occurrence at Casbeers.
  Singer songwriters that will be attending the upcoming Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (swrfa.com) in early October will find Butch back in residence and hosting pool side showcases for up and coming writers.
  This long-awaited CD was worth the wait and will be a great addition to any music lover’s library - whether a HIX true believer or new found ears.
  Visit Butch and HIX at the web site butchmorgan.com and keep an eye in Hill Country Happenings for more HIX Happenings.
  ****** 6 out of 5 Stars
  Claude “Butch” Morgan
  
  HILL COUNTRY HAPPENINGS - JULY 2007 - HCHAPPENINGS.COM
  24

• REVIEW [+ Show ]
  

  review in The Current - 9/12/2007 By Gilbert Garcia/Serene Dominic The H!X are a good exampl...
  review in The Current - 9/12/2007
  
  By Gilbert Garcia/Serene Dominic
  
  The H!X are a good example of what happens when baby boomers go nuts.
  
  If Claude “Butch” Morgan and his band of rootsy pranksters were in their teens, their healthy absurdist streak would manifest itself in loud, fast, aggressive dissonance and maybe a bit of onstage auto-destruction. But while they’re more than a little bent, the H!X are also traditional and sentimental (not to mention musically accomplished), so they sneak their strangeness into a semi-acoustic package that inevitably pleases alt-country regulars at Casbeers and Luckenbach.
  
  Any H!X fan will tell you that you have to see this quartet in the act to understand them, so it makes sense that their new CD, Really Live, documents the loose, madcap nature of those shows.
  
  Morgan’s humor rears its head on “I Hate Music,” a plea for silence with some ironic guitar heroics in the middle. He also hams it up on “WhatsaMatta,” a slender hook masquerading as a song, by bragging about an amazing guitar lick he’s learned, and then supposedly playing it so fast that everyone misses it. Only slightly more serious are “Eddie,” the tale of a “self-appointed security guard” who spends his life riding around town on a bicycle, and “Blubberball,” in which Morgan invites listeners to watch his body decompose.
  
  The flipside of Morgan’s comic shtick is his earnest singer-songwriter persona, which he showcases on “G-Pa” and “Kingdom.” But he and the H!X are most appealing when they bring levity to their sincerity and determination to their hijinks, as with their cover of James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).” Clearly in love with the song, the band nonetheless refuses to aproach it with reverence, giddily recasting it as an accordion-driven, conjunto dance number. Without a doubt, these clowns understand their roots.
  
  — Gilbert Garcia

• Roddy Tree Ranch Opens Concert Series with Claude 'Butch' Morgan by Mary Petre [+ Show ]
  

  HILL COUNTRY HAPPENINGS AUGUST 2008 www.hchappenings.com ~~~ Summertime in the Texas Hill Coun...HILL COUNTRY HAPPENINGS
  AUGUST 2008
  www.hchappenings.com
  ~~~
  Summertime in the Texas Hill Country brings thousands of visitors from across
  the U.S. to rest, relax and enjoy themselves at camps and resorts all along the
  Guadalupe River. For those in the know, Roddy Tree Ranch, owned and operated
  by Keith and Gretchen Asbury, is a little piece of paradise for the summer tourist.
  The pavilion at Roddy Tree is also a very happening spot for the locals to visit on Fridays and Saturdays to listen to some of the Hill Country’s finest music.
  This year, Roddy Tree
  Ranch is sponsoring a
  summer concert series
  in conjunction with Cabin
  Productions (see ad on
  page 6). The gate opens
  at 6:00, so you have plenty
  of time to eat and visit with
  friends and performers
  before the concert. Sundresses,
  shorts, t-shirts
  and sandals to boots and
  jeans, the attire was summer
  casual and cool. Jeff
  Gavin, head of Cabin Productions,
  along with his
  wife Mimi, prepared some
  super yummy burgers, chili
  cheese dogs and chicken
  sandwiches, and they
  were priced to sell! There
  are plenty of picnic tables
  inside the pavilion--good
  food, good friends, and
  good music--definitely my
  kind of gathering!
  Attendance at the opening
  night was far less than expected,
  but Claude “Butch”
  Morgan stepped up to the
  mic with the seasoned demeanor
  of a veteran performer and immediately had the audience in his hand.
  Butch Morgan is not one of those performers that you can stuff into a box and tie a
  neat little genre bow around. Both his life and his musical style defy conformity, and
  his stories, like his music, require listening to it all before you can appreciate the
  depth of his talent. I walked away with three of his CDs, including a signed copy of
  his latest release, “Better Late Than Never” by the Buckboard Boogie Boys. Suffice
  to say that he has another new fan.
  As Butch Morgan introduces himself and his songs, his wry sense of humor and
  poignant sense of life are shared abundantly, and before the evening is over you
  have a true sense of connection with his life and his songwriting. Morgan still lives
  in his hometown of Divine, Texas, and many of his songs are personal reflections of
  people and events that occurred there. One of my favorite songs, “Eddie,” is about
  a guy who rides around town on a bike with an 8-track on it listening to Tammy
  Wynette and George Jones (Eddie likes George, but not Tammy). Butch has a
  picture of Eddie taped on his guitar.
  Sometimes, Butch’s reflections are laughter through tears. He dedicates some
  of his songs to his 93-year-old father who he lovingly praises as a role model
  and his best friend. However, Butch Morgan dedicated his concert tonight to Chris
  Holzhaus who, sadly, passed away this afternoon (7/11/08) around 4:00 after an
  extended battle with cancer. What a tremendous honor to a fellow musician and
  friend.
  Sixty-one-year-old Butch Morgan readily acknowledges that both he and his father
  have overcome a serious alcohol addiction, and many of his songs, while seemingly self -deprecating, recognize powerfully the before and after redemption
  of forgiveness. Anyone who has been there will immediately recognize
  the experience; anyone who is there will find inspiration in his
  words if they will only listen. However, Butch Morgan has been playing
  guitar and writing songs since he was 13-years-old—that’s 48 years
  of hands-on experience—and I guarantee he knows his way around
  a guitar. At one point in his
  performance, he shared the
  story of how he got his first
  guitar. To paraphrase it, he
  signed up for a local talent
  contest. When he told his
  father what he had done,
  his father wanted to know
  what talent he was going
  to perform. Young Butch
  hadn’t really thought about
  that, but he announced that
  he would play the guitar.
  Butch’s father brought it to
  his attention that he didn’t
  know how to play the guitar,
  but that didn’t bother him at
  all—he had two weeks to
  learn! So Butch got a guitar
  and proceeded to learn
  “Malaguena.” Well, Butch
  didn’t win the contest. In
  fact, a 5-year-old girl wearing
  a tutu and twirling a
  flaming baton beat him. To
  this day, he consoles himself
  with the fact that she
  can no longer wear that
  tutu or twirl a baton, but
  he’s still playing guitar!
  After a brief intermission,
  Butch Morgan was joined
  on stage by local musicians, Keith Asbury on keyboard, Dr. Neil
  Cassidy on bass, Steve Coppage on mandolin, and Dave Schlabach
  on harmonica. It was a jam session like I’ve never heard before with
  both a cohesive, impressive progressive jazz sound, and an eclectic, dynamic demonstration of individual talent. The good news is that you can hear this local bunch playing again at the Roddy Tree Ranch; the bad news is you missed Claude Butch Morgan. You owe it to yourself to check out the schedule for the remainder of the concert series at Roddy Tree Ranch, and mark your calendar. I had a fabulous time, and I can promise that you will, too!
  

Setlist

ORIGINALS GALORE:
Man In The Mirrow
Kingdom
Eddie
Westernworld
Mr. Blue
Blubberball
Shoes
COVERS-
Singing the Blues,
King of the Road
Fishin' Bues
Hey Good Lookin'
Stand By Me
Rocky Racoon
I've Just Seen A Face

One hour sets, have three or four up my sleeve....

Basic Requirements

Calendar