Sarah Morris and Matthew French – November 1, 2024

Sarah Morris has a habit of missing the forest. From the day the Minneapolis based singer-songwriter picked up a guitar, armed with the bone-deep memory of her parents’ well-loved record collection and rooted in the storytelling fire of a Mary Chapin Carpenter tune, she’s been too busy crafting love letters to the details of the trees. Sarah’s endearingly honest, expertly penned songs encourage audiences to pull away from the big picture and get caught up in the magic of our everyday minutia, the rainy day ache in her sunlit voice granting us permission to escape into stories at once hauntingly familiar and uniquely her own.

A graduate of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Sarah spent the first years of her career in Nashville, losing herself in the art of writing timeless Americana melodies. “Sarah Morris [is] a bright, clear, brilliant songwriter,” wrote Jon Hunt of L’Etoile Magazine. “…pure and crisp and perfect.” In the years since her 2011 debut album, Lonely or Free, Sarah’s career, like her songs, has been overflowing with delicious details. Her albums Ordinary Things (2015), Hearts in Need of Repair (2017), and All Mine (2020) recorded with band mates Thomas Nordlund, Andrew Foreman, and Lars-Erik Larson with producer Eric Blomquist, earned international airplay and considerable critical acclaim, reaching notable positions on both the Americana Music Association and Euro Americana charts. In 2016, Sarah was a top four finalist in the NewSong Music Contest at Lincoln Center in New York City, 2^nd place winner of the Chris Austin Songwriting Competition at MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC, and an Americana semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. In 2018, she went on to win the Kerrville New Folk Competition, collecting an honorable mention at the Telluride Troubadour contest along the way.  More recently, Sarah was named Midwest Country Music Organization’s Songwriter of the Year for the third time.

In 2023, Sarah released her 5th album of originals, ‘Here’s To You’, which was recently awarded ‘Album of the Year’ by the Midwest Country Music Organization.

Inclined toward the intimacy of live performance, Sarah spends a remarkable amount of time on stage. Whether solo, backed by the country kick of her long-time band The Sometimes Guys (Nordlund, Foreman, and Lars-Erik Larson), in harmony-heavy collaborations with friends such as Vicky Emerson, or Matthew French, or hosting local and traveling musicians live online from her big green bathroom, her playful-hearted presence is both captivating and contagious. Amidst her steady performance schedule she has opened for greats like JD Souther, Suzy Bogguss, and Teddy Thompson – she’s had plenty of beautiful moments to revel in. And with a brand new album to share in 2023, she’s primed to offer us a few beautiful moments of our own.

Deeply committed to the Twin Cities’ life-giving music community, Morris hosted an online interview program called, “Hey, I Miss You,” to amplify the work of her peers, and currently can be found online collaborating with musicians for a Youtube series of under-rehearsed cover songs filmed in her laurel green bathroom. Additionally, Morris is head cheerleader for a local songwriting collective.

As a writer, lover, mother, and witness, Morris invites us to join her in missing the forest for the trees, with songs that count and celebrate the glorious details of our messy, magical, everyday lives.

MATTHEW FRENCH is a Minneapolis-based singer, songwriter and Gibson guitar collector who creates music to connect people through shared stories of love and loss. The former minister has grown a loyal fan base through his engaging performances, wry sense of humor and warm, community-minded spirit.

Raised in a small town outside of Dayton, Ohio, French grew up playing music in the church. He sang with various bands and flirted briefly with the trombone and cornet before falling in love with the guitar at 16. French played in bands through college and started performing music professionally. French moved to Minnesota in 2005, but it was not until several years later that he truly immersed himself in songwriting catalyzed by a painful divorce in 2014.

“Songwriting was my way of saying things I didn’t know I needed to say,” French says. “It was the best therapy.”

Inspired by songwriters like Peter Bradley Adams and David Ramirez, he started performing some of his own songs out at open mics and released his debut EP Home in 2015, recorded by Danny O’Brien (Annie Fitzgerald, Al Church, Meg Kirsch) at Hot Dad Labs studio. Since then, French has immersed himself in the Twin Cities music scene, performing and recording with some of Minnesota’s top folk/Americana artists including Sarah Morris, Annie Fitzgerald and Ben Cook-Feltz. He released a second EP, Winding Road, in 2016 followed by his first full-length album, Sweet Love.

During the pandemic, he has focused on writing and recording, releasing two new singles — a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Song for the Asking” (recorded with Sarah Morris) and “Man in the Yellow Chair,” written for his grandfather. The song’s moving video premiered on The Current on Father’s Day. His new album, Two Sides, is available now on all streaming platforms as well as CD & Vinyl.

When not writing or performing, Matthew French likes to run and research more about vintage Gibson guitars. A staple of the Twin Cities music scene, he can also be seen at clubs around the Twin Cities, supporting his favorite artists and occasionally hopping up on stage to sing harmonies.