LIVE: Gurf Morlix @ Caffe Lena, 3/21/14

Review and photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk

In the folk world, “Texas troubadour” is another phrase for what’s known in the Northeast as a “singer-songwriter.” But Gurf Morlix is much more than that. In addition to being a performer and songwriter, he’s also a producer and a multi-instrumentalist behind of – or in front of – the soundboard for a who’s-who of musicians, including Lucinda Williams, Warren Zevon and Patty Griffin, just to name a few.

Morlix’s two-set date at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs last Friday evening was a potpourri of mostly originals drawn from his recent CD outing, Last Exit to HappyLand and the preceding four CDs he’s released, plus any covers or standards that popped into his mind.

You see, Gurf Morlix is a true troubadour. He reads the audience and sings his songs just for them. It doesn’t matter if it’s his own original or somebody else’s song, say a Lennon & McCartney piece. He’s comfortable doing both, and he’s content being in his own skin, so to speak. He has no prepared set list when he takes the stage. He just goes out naked in the figurative sense and sings whatever he likes. It works for him, and it certainly worked for the audience at Caffe Lena.

Yeah, Morlix is audience-friendly, and a hell of a nice guy, to boot.