Hear Country Outlaws Sam Morrow, Jaime Wyatt's Raucous New 'Skinny Elvis'
Hear Country Outlaws Sam Morrow, Jaime Wyatt's Raucous New 'Skinny Elvis'
California-based performers unite for track from Morrow's forthcoming 'Concrete and Mud' LP
Sam Morrow is joined by Jaime Wyatt on the new song "Skinny Elvis." Chris Phelps/Courtesy of REK Room Media
By Jeff Gage
9 hours ago
Sam Morrow and Jaime Wyatt know all about hard living, and on their new duet "Skinny Elvis" they invoke one of rock & roll's original hedonists, Elvis Presley, with an assist from steel pedal great Jay Dee Maness.
The go-for-broke boogie appears on Morrow's new album Concrete and Mud, which sees the California singer hitting his stride after battling his way to sobriety in recent years. Fellow Sunshine State resident and kindred spirit Wyatt – who's done some hard time – tackle this amphetamine-fueled rattler with full-throated verve. "Loosen your belt, let yourself go/Stage a comeback, it's time to steal the show," they sing. More than a mere good-humored invocation of the King, they belt it out with the panache of two people who have come back from the brink themselves.
Morrow's producer and frequent songwriting partner Eric Corne wrote "Skinny Elvis." "[We] have a mutual friend who uses the phrase, 'That’s skinny Elvis, all day long' when describing something as cool," Morrow tells Rolling Stone Country of the song's origins. Corne came up with the idea of inviting Wyatt – who's toured with Morrow before – to join on the track. "We had been looking for a track to do as a duet with Jaime and this one fit like a glove," Morrow adds.
Their duet is spurred on by the crackling solo from Maness, who's played with such California legends as Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and the Byrds. "It was a real treat also having Jay Dee Maness on this tune playing pedal steel," Morrows says. "He told us he couldn’t really play fast anymore, but as you can tell by the solo, that was a blatant lie.”
Concrete and Mud will be released this Friday, March 30th via Corne's label, Forty Below Records. Morrow plays the Peppermint Club in Los Angeles the night before, March 29th.