Todd Royce Morton

Artist Information

Biography

Todd Royce Morton grew up in the small-town art community of Brattleboro, VT, during the burgeoning commercial blues boom and pop cleverness of the 1980s. His formative years are characterized by these popular trends and an innate interest in 1950’s bebop and 1960's psychedelic blues-rock. Todd was embraced early on in his hometown as an up and coming talent, through newspaper features and sold out concerts. A guitarist since the age of 7 and a singer-songwriter since the age of 12, Morton is equally comfortable in his roles as electric guitar slinger, band frontman, and acoustic troubadour. Blues, rock, jazz improvisation, and pop music form the foundation of the [now] Maine resident’s sound, whether he's playing solo, with the Todd Royce Trio, in his four-piece function band "FunkyTown" or as a sideman. The breadth of his experience and performance formats is a testament to his musicianship and appeal.

After studying for 2 years at Berklee College of Music on a merit scholarship, Morton was recruited to join the nationally known swing band, “Eight To The Bar.” For the remainder of the 1990's he toured as "Todd Royce" with "Eight to The Bar," playing upwards of 250 nights per year. He has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in blues, including Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, and Johnny Winter. As a sideman he has played and recorded with members of Van Morisson's band, the Saturday Night Live Band, Roomful of Blues and David Crosby's "CPR."

His high level of play over the last 15 years has brought him to some of the country's greatest venues and events, like The Newport Jazz Festival, Irving Plaza, Rockefeller Plaza, Toad's in New Haven, Disney's Atlantic Boardwalk Ballroom, Yankee Homecoming, Pearl Street & The Iron Horse Music Hall (Northampton, MA), The Rockport Maine Lobster Fest, Northampton Center for the Arts, Biker Week (Laconia, NH), Seacoast Repertory Theatre, The Lotos Club (NYC), Harper's Ferry (Boston), John Hancock Center, The Superdome in New Orleans, and ESPN's X-Games.

Todd's two CDs of original material, "Step into the light" and “Waiting for you” have received rave reviews from major music critics and fans. Songs from both CDs have been featured on FM radio in Maine, New Hampshire, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, and on the internet and have been chosen for prestigious artist compilations. He has also composed music for film and multimedia. Guitar and music fans of all ages continue to recognize Todd Royce Morton as a master of his instrument and craft.

Instrumentation

Band: Guitar, bass, drums, vocals.

Solo: Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, & Phrase Sampler.

Discography

"Step into the light" 2002
"Waiting for you" 2005

Official Website

http://www.toddroyce.com

Audio

• Dim Sum
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• Step into the light
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• What I Need
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• Upscale Gypsy
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• Waiting for you
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Lyrics

• What I Need
• Listen to your heart
• Waiting for you
• Upscale Gypsy

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Step into the light (debut CD) [+ Show ]
  

  Todd Royce (aka Todd Morton) hails from North Berwick, ME, and issues a solid and professional blend...Todd Royce (aka Todd Morton) hails from North Berwick, ME, and issues a solid and professional blend of pop/blues from his power trio on this 11-track CD. Though they claim Cream as a major influence, that sound really only comes through on "What I Need," a direction that would be most welcome on future work. Royce's guitar and vocal style blend nicely with his lyrics and maintain a fine balance over the course of the 47 minutes. It's a well thought out and perfectly constructed project, as polished as the 12-page lyric booklet that accompanies the music. The artist calls these takes "eleven mini chapters" of an autobiography "that spans the ages of 19 and 27," put together with his brother, bassist Doug Morton. Interesting that Gary Cherone of Extreme is thanked in the liner notes, as the title track, "Step into the Light," is something that would have easily fit on one of Cherone's own albums with his former band. Maybe the strongest track here, it has an intriguing riff and borderline metal crunch. Powerful and well defined, the band has that groove Spirit and Savoy Brown were able to capture in their respective heydays. Impressive that three guys are generating all this, and that they are able to easily dip into different musical bags while maintaining their core sound. They resist the opportunity to overplay, and that restraint is the key to why this disc works so well.

Setlist

Here's a list of typical tunes for an evening with the full band. Original songs are in boldface:

steppin (soulive)
SOMETIMES RAIN
INDECISION
i can't get next to you (temptations)
true to myself (ziggy marley)
it stoned me (van morrison)
WHAT I NEED
ONE WAY TICKET
FEELING GOOD
coming up (mccartney)
STEP INTO THE LIGHT
hey pocky way (neville brothers)
yellow moon (neville borthers)
But anyway (blues traveler)
Cold shot (stevie ray vaughan)
Harvest moon (neil young)
Higher ground (stevie wonder)
Is this love (marley)
It’s your thing/love the one (isley/csn)
Norwegian wood (beatles)
One way out (allman)
Piece of your soul (storyville)
Politician (cream)
Purple haze (hendrix)
Rockin in the free world (neil young)
Roses are free (ween)
Save me (D. Matthews)
Spanish Moon (little feat)
pride and joy (stevie ray vaughan)
So What (miles davis)
Boozer (john scofield)
DIM SUM
WAITING FOR YOU

Basic Requirements

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