Acoustic roots music songwriter Cahalen Morrison has a gift for communicating the simple truths of folk music. He hand-crafts songs that sound timeless, and Cahalen clearly knows and loves the early American music from which he draws his inspiration. His guitar picking sounds like the laid-back playing you might have heard at Mississippi John Hurt’s fabled community BBQs back in the 1950s, with maybe a guest visit from Doc Watson. Morrison’s playing fuses the best of country blues and early country picking into an effortless foundation for his songwriting. And it’s his songs that truly shine on his new album, Old-Timey and New-Fangled.

It’s not uncommon for songwriters to tap into earthy, organic imagery to lend their songs a rootsy sound, in fact an entire genre of music was born from this recently, but what we like about Cahalen’s songs is how natural this imagery sounds with his music. He sounds like he’s lived the life and known the life and understands what it means to be connected to the land. Added to his songs, Cahalen’s playing on a multitude of acoustic instruments: mandolin, guitar, clawhammer banjo and slide guitar seems effortless. The fact that his album, “Old-Timey & New-Fangled” was recorded live with family and friends playing along yet sounds as polished as a studio album speaks to Cahalen’s mastery of acoustic music making.

-Devon Leger, Hearth Music