SAM MORROW
GETTIN’ BY ON GETTIN’ DOWN

BIO

Two years before releasing Gettin' By on Gettin' Down — the most guitar-driven, groove-heavy album of Sam Morrow's catalog, with songs that roll just as hard as they rock — Morrow hit the highway in support of his third record, Concrete & Mud. Despite the 28-year-old being a road warrior for years, this time things felt different. Joined by a band of amplified roots-rockers, Morrow spent eighteen months traveling halfway across the world, playing Concrete & Mud songs to the biggest audiences of his career. By the time the dust settled, he'd become a staple of Americana radio on both sides of the Atlantic, with outlets like Rolling Stone and NPR singing his praises. 

"My favorite rock & roll is the stuff that has groove to it," says Morrow, a native Texan who kickstarted his music career after moving to Los Angeles, where he's since become one of the city's biggest roots-music exports. "I want to make music like that — funky, layered rock where it's not just the songwriting that's important, but the presentation, too."

Touring the world will widen your perspective. Morrow still shines a light on his own experience with Gettin' By on Gettin' Down, whose songs spin true-life stories of new relationships, old flames, the battle to remain upbeat during downtrodden times, and the lingering temptation of the vices that once clouded his vision. He switches to a wider lens on several songs, though, penning lyrics about a modern world obsessed with Instagram filters and virtual interactions.

"I'm taking my own flaws, and flaws we have socially, and poking fun of them a bit," he explains. "I've been known to have songs that are really serious and grim, but that's not exactly who I am. I've just always had an aversion to doing what everyone else is doing. It's this punk-rock attitude, where if you tell me I'm supposed to do something specific, I'm gonna do something else. Maybe that's a character defect…but it is what it is."

It's no character defect. With Gettin' By on Gettin' Down, Sam Morrow reminds us that the things that set him apart are the very same things that help him stand out.