A musician's journey is led by a musical legend

When Hank Morris listened to his first Bob Dylan record, he knew music was his future. Morris was born and raised in Texarkana, Texas and, at the age of 14 years old, he learned how to play the guitar and harmonica. It was that same combination of musical instruments which Dylan had played in his classic songs during the 1960s.

Every Friday, Morris performs at the Mangy Moose Roadside Bar in Riverside, Wyoming. He takes the time to talk to the audience about each song he is going to sing and what the song is all about.

Morris’s songs have a lot in common with Dylan’s music writing in that they either have a story about places they have been or something they wrote with their pure imagination.

“My mom got me my first Bob Dylan album as a kid and it was the first time I realized that people wrote their own music,” Morris said. “I dug into Dylan’s music and saw what he did. His music is so special to me, it inspired me to write songs”.

Morris was also inspired by other music legends such as Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and David Allen Coe. The four were known as the founders of Outlaw Country. Robert Earl Keen, a singer-songwriter, entertainer and Texas native is another favorite of Morris’s who encouraged him to become a songwriter.

“Keen spent a few years in his early life in Nashville but he got tired of the corporate music atmosphere and went back to Texas,” Morris said. “He wrote the book on independence in music and is a big inspiration for me because he proved that you can write your own songs and through hard work and determination you will find an audience that will follow you”.

When Morris first started playing music, he played in small garage bands with his friends in his teen years but would later travel around the United States to perform. Before all of that, though, Morris and his brother played on the streets of their home state of Texas.

“When me and my younger brother were teenagers what we did was called busking,” Morris said. “My brother got a whiskey box from a gas station and I had my guitar. He was keeping beats while I was blowing my harmonica and singing songs. People would walk by to drop money in the box and we made $60 that day.

Morris said someone told his grandmother he and his brother were panhandling.

He said it was a misunderstanding.

“Someone who knew us called my Grandmother on the phone and she said ‘Do you know where your grandkids are? They are downtown panhandling,’” Morris said. “My grandmother was so embarrassed she called up my mom and said ‘What are you doing letting your kids panhandle downtown on a street corner?’ My Mom said ‘I don’t know anything about it but I am sure it’s not that bad.’”

Morris’s grandmother was shocked later to find out he and his brother would be in the front headlines of the local newspaper. Morris said his grandma apologized when she found out the truth about what happened that day.

“Me and my brother came home and our Mom said ‘What did you all do today?’“, Morris said. “We told her what we did and she said, ‘Oh that sounds nice.’ Then a local newspaper reporter came by our house and wrote a story about us. The next day, our story about my brother and me performing on the streets ran on the front page of the newspaper and my grandmother called us up and apologetically said, ‘Oh my God they were not panhandling they were playing music.’”

Since then Morris has played just about everywhere around the country and even did opening acts in his hometown of Texarkana. After traveling and visiting other towns, he realized there was no place like home in the Platte Valley after living in Saratoga three times in the last 20 years. Morris said he loves the friendly atmosphere in Saratoga, Riverside, and Encampment.

Morris’s son, 14-year-old Sam Morris, made his debut performing with his dad March 1. Sam said he always loved music, especially the kind of music his dad had introduced to him.

“I always listen to music and my dad showed me different types of music,” Sam said. “I have been playing the guitar since I was 10 years old but I learned from one of my dad’s friends.”

Morris and his son played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Mississippi Kid” and Willie Nelson “On The Road Again”. Father and son gave a great performance together. Morris and his son perform at the Mangy Moose every Friday at 6:30 p.m. You can also look for Morris’s songs on YouTube, and Facebook, or visit his website at https://hankmorris.my.canva.site/music.