Back
in the late ‘70s guitarist Steve Morse burst on the scene
with his group The Dixie Dregs. Arriving as they did on the Atlanta
based Capricorn Records, Dixie Dregs were among the first jazz-rock
based groups to emerge from the Southern US. While fusion cats like
Pat Metheny was cosying up to the ECM crowd, Morse was setting new
standards in the instro rock world with some great albums, especially,
from my perspective at least, 1980's Dregs Of The Earth, featuring
the favorite “Twiggs Approved,” recorded as a tribute to
the late Dixie Dregs cohort, Twiggs Lyndon. Eric Paulos and I had
a great interview with Steve Morse back in 2004 that I wrote and produced
for 20th Century Guitar mag and I’ve been thinking about featuring
the entire original length interview of which I only used about half
for the mag. Keep an eye out for that. Anytime Morse picks up his
guitar to record is a cause for celebration which is exactly how Steve’s
disciples will feel after they hear the 2009 Eagle Records release
of Out Standing In Their Field. Outstanding can only mean one
thing and this CD is an outstanding and fully modern fusion outing
that has one ear in the past and one in the future. Backing up Morse
are his gifted accomplices, drummer Van Romaine and Dave
LaRue on bass. There are plenty of rocking guitar instrumentals
throughout the eleven cut CD while melodic, jazzier yet progressive
based tracks such as “Here And Now And Then” harken back
to the best of that classic melodic edge of the original Dixie Dregs.
Very interesting to see Eagle Rock Records stretch out with this new
studio album of modern guitar fusion that really resounds with musical
passion. www.EagleRockEnt.com
/ www.SteveMorse.com
