Morgan Jezek Live at Legends
A country singer songwriter with a great voice and flavorful guitar
Morgan Jezek is not only a talented country singer/songwriter, she is just overflowing with sweet southern charm that makes you immediately forgive the fact that she was ten minutes late getting started for her gig at Legends Roadhouse, a fact which I wouldn’t even have noticed if she hadn’t arrived breathless with apologies. Jezek, a Midland native now living in Iowa Park, is a single mom of a twelve year old, and parents can sympathize with the hustle and bustle. No apologies were necessary.
A massage therapist by day, Morgan is humble and delightful as a performer, with a casual attitude and a friendly running banter with the audience. At one point, after Morgan performed a song, there was a particularly rousing round of applause and Morgan seemed surprised by it. She thanked the crowd and said “There are no prizes and the points don’t matter but y’all are the keepers of my self-esteem.”
She also announced that she “would not be at all disappointed if a beer made it’s way over here,” and one miraculously appeared.
And with a cold beer at her side, the music really got interesting. Morgan is more than your typical country singer in a bar.
There’s no doubt Morgan has a great voice and can wail, but she called my attention again and again to her guitar work. With her picking hand, Morgan frequently emphasizes the up stroke and uses single notes interspersed with full chords to flavor her guitar with what sounded to me like subtle hints of flamenco. Very unique.
I asked Morgan about her playing and she said she is a self-taught guitarist and that she learned to play at 14 “because pianos are heavy and I wanted to take it with me.”
Morgan performed a version of Dolly’s “Jolene” that I had not previously heard, and did a haunting version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” that was awesome. She covered Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” too, which gave her a chance to show her vocal chops, and she did.
Lelani — a member of Escape Goats and everybody’s favorite post-Art Walk karaoke emcee — joined Morgan for a spontaneous duet of Lorde’s “Royals” that had one of my absolute favorite things in the world: great two-part harmonies.
It was a low-key Thursday night in June and Morgan’s brand of country seemed like the perfect accompaniment for the orange sunset at the end of a scorching Texas day. I didn’t get to stay long on this particular occasion but I saw enough to know Morgan Jezek is definitely worth seeing again, and she has some gigs coming up if you follow her on social media.
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All photos by the author, © FallstownFUSE.com
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She sounds like someone I'd REALLY enjoy! I hope I can catch her next time.