Interview with blues musician Lori Morvin

Welcome. This is Psych One-on-One, and I'm Julianne Good. We are here to make psychology more understandable and with tips for you, your family, and friends to make your lives easier. Tonight, my special guest is Lori Morvin, and she is a wonderful musician, great blues woman. And tonight, we are going to be talking about her life and how she has integrated the blues, music, science, and just a really interesting life history. So hi, Lori. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show. Well, thank you for being here. It kind of took us a few weeks to connect this up, but we did it, and here you are. And I just wanted to let everybody know the intro song was called Mojo Mama, and that is from your album, Lori Morvin Band, and the album is Breathe Deep. So we're going to be playing a couple of other cuts from that album tonight. So I'd like to start off. This evening with just talking about what did you dream of becoming when you were little? You know, honestly, when I was a little girl, I thought I would grow up and become an astronaut and really was interested in, you know, science fiction. I read all kinds of science fiction books, you know, and thought maybe I could go travel around the universe. You know, I mean, really, when I was a little kid, that was definitely. One of my big dreams. You definitely dreamed big, and you actually did pursue a career in aerospace, which we're going to be talking about in a little while here. But how did you start getting into music and about how old were you? Well, let's see, fifth grade. So what is that? Ten, I guess. Yeah, I grew up, just my mom and me at that time, and I grew up going to Catholic school in Joliet, Illinois. And I grew up. And each Catholic school didn't have enough money to have their own band. And so all the Catholic schools in all of Joliet would send all their little elementary school kids down to Joliet Catholic High School. And we had one band for the entire diocese. And I learned how to play the flute. So I learned how to read music. And well, I wanted to play the drums, but my mom, she still laughs about this now. She thought that meant we were going to have a great big drum. We had a great big drum kit in our tiny little apartment that we lived in. And so she said, no way, no drums. And so, you know, the flute was nice and small and that would fit in our apartment. So that's what I ended up growing up to play. But I mean, it was great for me. I loved playing the flute. And then as I got older and into high school band, you know, growing up in the Midwest, it's marching band is king, you know. Right. And during marching band season, I got to move over to the drum section because I just had some natural ability there. So I did end up getting to play the drums at least some of the time of my school band career. But so from fifth grade to 12th grade, I played the flute during concert season and then later, you know, during marching season, played the drums. So I had a really good time being in school band. Yeah. And I'm also from the Midwest, too. I'm from Wisconsin. So I understand. I understand, you know, those long Midwest winters when there's not a whole lot to do. So you know, playing instruments is definitely an out. It's necessary to keep your sanity from keeping from, you know, having cabin fever all season. So yeah, and I was in marching band too, but I was like the flay girl, you know, I wanted to go and do the drums also. So you're fortunate that you did get to do that portion of it. Interestingly enough, the very first piece of music that I ever wrote was a composition for our drum section. And I wrote it, I wrote an entire composition for every instrument, you know, snares, the tricoms, the cymbals, we had xylophones going, we had like four different sizes of bass drums going, and we had, you know, all kinds of stuff. And my high school band director was cool enough to let me write this composition. And you know, I'm not even sure how long it was, maybe it was like a 32 bar cadence or something. And then we would use it as we'd go marching in parades, you know, in between when the band would play full songs, you know, the drums are always playing to keep the whole band marching in time. That was our cadence for a long time. That's awesome. So how did you start going into doing sports on top of music? And how did you ever have the time to be? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that's an interesting question I think I've played sports really as long as I can remember I always had an interest in as a little girl and I was always you know out playing baseball with the boys and I never in my life owned a Barbie or I mean there's nothing wrong with that that's all good stuff you know but it for me it didn't hold any interest I wanted to be out playing baseball or shooting a basketball or you know once I started playing my flute playing my flute I loved being in marching band I was you know my parents actually when my mom was dating my stepdad I mean they were so young I think about how young they were you know I was about eight and so they they would have been 29 and they helped form the junior miss softball league in the city of Joliet so that I could play softball because I wanted to play little league but at the time girls weren't allowed to play and so I always teased my dad and tell him he was just trying to impress my mom so he coached my my junior men's softball team so that I could play and I mean that was when I was eight years old so the first time I was in organized sports I was eight and then I just went from there I never stopped playing organized sports and as soon as I could in school I started playing when I was in seventh grade I transferred to a public school for the first time after my mom married my stepdad so I did six years of Catholic school and then I transferred to a public school and they had much better sports programs and that's where I really kind of got to blossom and play organized sports and then I just played every sport that the school that I that I could that they had and that all the way through high school etc you know I just I loved playing and I was always a busy kid but you know I think that's just who I am because my adult life I'm a busy woman I'm just always working at something so really I guess that pattern was set up when I was a kid and I could always handle a heavy load and much to her credit my mom let me take on a heavy load and always just supported me in my efforts you know in the various things sports yeah it's wonderful and the whole thing too with the the discipline between doing sports and learning music and practicing for both of them I'm sure served you really well throughout your lifetime correct oh absolutely I mean I think playing a sport and learning to play an instrument they both require a lot of discipline both physically and mentally because you're you're learning a skill and you're training you know your brain to take in information when you know you need to learn to play a instrument and you need to learn to play a instrument and you need to learn to play a instrument and you need to learn to play a instrument and I was a good student too I was kind of one of those all-around kids I ended up when I graduated I was salutatory in my class and all you know I had a job and I just you know I just kind of always was able to take care of things and in my in my high school you know I didn't go to a big giant high school you know it's a little plainfield Illinois you know so it wasn't like I mean my high school was probably twelve hundred kids and I mean I know there's a lot of kids in my high school there's high schools out there that have three thousand kids or whatever but so in a in a small town situation I got to really blossom and do a lot of things and you know I think I earned 12 varsity letters when I was in high school wow that's amazing yeah I played three sports a year all four years and I never played a JV team I started out as a freshman on the varsity team on every sport I did but you know so it was just a you know it was a great situation for me and my parents were just my parents were just my parents were just my parents were just my parents were just marvelous at juggling my schedule with my stepbrother and my stepsister and they attended every game and concert and my sister was in school plays and you know my parents were really fantastic about that really supportive and encouraging that's a blessing Laurie yeah oh it is right I'm all the time awesome I think it is yeah I knew that I I just had the freedom to just go explore becoming the best version of me I could be and I just I just I just I just I just I just you know you go girl you know go that's the best baby that is the best yeah yeah definitely so how old were you when you started transitioning into playing guitar that was about 17 or 18 you know in my little binky town we didn't have uh home depot you know that was way too big city for us we had a little home improvement store it was called G L L L lo lo lo We had a little home improvement store. It was called G Lumber, you know, G-E-E, G Lumber. And I had a part-time job there. It was right down the street from my home, like a mile away. And one of the guys working there was two years ahead of me in school. So I was a sophomore when I started working there. He was a senior. And we became just best buddies. And he had an acoustic guitar. And that was the first time in my life at some point, I want to say, you know, maybe it was my junior year or something where I, you know, we started hanging out a lot. And he's like, oh, yeah, I got this guitar. And I picked up that guitar and I thought, this is the best thing in the history of the world. There's nothing better than this thing that I have my hands on right now. I remember that moment. It was like a lightning bolt, you know. And I started playing guitar and never looked back. It just became a huge part of my life. Starting from that little instant where he just said, yeah, I got this guitar. Yeah, here you go. Didn't realize how life-changing it would be. Yeah, exactly. I really didn't. Yeah. So how did you start getting into bands then? What did that period around 17, 18 look like? Well, I really didn't start getting into official bands until later. Now, Brendan knew another kid named Joe that played guitar. So the three of us would kind of get together from time to time and, you know, try to write songs. Well, Brendan and I actually spent a lot of time, just the two of us, trying to write songs. And, you know, we were just these little middle-class, you know, blue-collar family kind of kids. We didn't have a lot of time. We didn't have a lot of time. We didn't have a lot of money. And, you know, we'd be like over at his house. There were eight kids in his family, and I was like the ninth kid. And, like, they never locked their door. It was, I mean, that's where I grew up, you know. And so I would just come waltzing in. I would just be like, oh, hi, Lori's here. And, you know, I'd go over and, you know, we had this little running joke that, oh, Lori and Brendan are going to go up to his room and make beautiful music together. You know, it's a little couple. We just thought that was the most hilarious thing when we were 18 years old, you know. And his parents were awesome, really supportive. And we'd just go. And they had no air conditioning. So this is Illinois in the summer in an upstairs room. We're sweating our eyeballs out. And we're like writing these songs. And we're like, oh, isn't that cool? And we'd, like, record it on a tape deck. And then we thought we were like George Martin because we would take that tape deck and we would dump that into another tape deck while we sang another thing. And we were, like, overdubbing, right? It was just hilarious. And we were doing it on these little tape decks. And Brendan, you know, he said, okay, you've got to say the date. And then you'd hear me getting irritated. I'm tired of saying the date. And all this is getting recorded, you know. Listen back. Brendan actually still has some of those tapes. It's just hilarious. But that's when I first started writing songs, you know. It was just I learned three chords. And it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to just decide to start writing a song. Sure. I didn't have a conscious thought of, hey, I'm going to become a songwriter. It was just I learned he taught me a couple chords on the guitar. And the next thing I knew, I was writing a song. You know, just as natural as could be. Yeah. The lovely organic process of creating music and just having the luxury of that time, you know, when you're that age. Yeah. You know. Yeah. It was. It was freedom. And, you know, small town, Illinois. What else are you going to do in the summer? I mean, I was playing like a tournament team softball or whatever. But still, that's only going to be a couple of times a week in the summer. And I had my summer jobs. But, you know, when you're a kid, you're 18 years old. You're full of energy and you're off doing stuff with your friends. And Brendan and I would always be writing songs and playing music either at his house or my house or, you know, those times are precious. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. It was really cool. Yeah. And it seems, you know, like. Like simplified almost. But because it, you know, people don't realize, I mean, in a fast paced world right now to just be able to have that kind of time. It's almost innocent and magical. Right. Well, it is. And I think, you know, as you grow into adulthood, you don't get to have those times as much. And I don't really pine for them. I'm grateful that I had them. But I accept that I'm never going to have that kind of unstructured freedom that I had then. Right. But I also think it was a great way. How do I put this? It was really good formation for how I would approach songwriting because it's always been organic for me. I never have approached it from a, you know, how am I going to make money off of this? Although I'd like to make a lot of money off of it. I mean, don't get me wrong. And I wouldn't I wouldn't have to do other things to make money. And then that kind of, of course, I'd love to, you know, have something that sold. I'd love to make millions of copies and get a Grammy. And I mean, that would all be great. But it was like the way that I formulated writing songs back then in that organic sense is still really the way that I write them now to this day. I write the song because the song is in me and it's bubbling out. And I don't think about the end result. I just I just write the song. Right. Which is nice to be able to have that freedom, not not to get stuck. In the process of what is it going to sound like at the end? You know, because that that's where you can trip yourself up a lot. Just, you know, just letting the process happen is just it's a wonderful thing. So we're going to take a quick commercial break and we're going to continue with your life story. How you ended up getting into college and aerospace. And that's fascinating. So we'll be right back with Psych One-on-One and Lori Morvin. Therapy Cable. Is the missing piece in the puzzling question. What is the role of the cyber world in health care? Therapy Cable has created a marketplace where health care finally meets technology in a consumer friendly way. We use online technology to bring together various entities of health care in one central place. It's easy to access from any Internet platform. We provide educational videos on topics like acupressure, medicine, psychotherapy and yoga. You can confidentially use this information in the privacy of your home. You can stay connected to the provider of your choice or even see your provider in person. Get started today at TherapyCable.com. And welcome back to Psych One-on-One with Julianne Good and Lori Morvin. We are talking about blues, love of music and science this evening. So, Lori, the next chapter in your life involved you getting an electrical internet connection. We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about your electrical engineering degree and your pilot's licenses. So, can you tell us a little bit about how that happened? Sure. When I was finishing up high school, you know, becoming a junior and a senior and kind of trying to find my way, I remember at some point my volleyball coach coming up to me saying, you know, there are some schools interested in you. And I said, no, I don't think I'll be able to handle playing sports in college. I want to go to the U of I. I'm going to get my degree in electrical engineering. And I'm just going to have to. I'm going to have to study all the time. I won't have time for anything else. So, I just put the stop to all of that. And I went off to U of I. And my freshman year, you know, it was a lot of studying. It's a very competitive school. And at that time, I think it still is, it was like the number two electrical engineering school in the nation after MIT, something like that. So, there's people from, you know, 120 countries there or whatever it is, some gigantic statistic. And in many of my classes, it was me and 50 guys. So, you know, there was a lot of pressure. I felt a lot of pressure that I had to be successful because, you know, you're just a young kid. You're 18 years old. You're like, oh, my God, I got to do well or they're never going to let another girl in or whatever. Anyway, my freshman year, I was doing just fine. I was studying away, getting good grades, and I ended up starting to spend all these hours over at the intramural building. Playing basketball against the guys just because I missed sports so much. And so, then at some point, I think my sophomore year, I just walked up to the volleyball coach. I just went to one of their games. I missed it so much. I walked up to the assistant coach after the game and just said, do you need any more players? I still can't believe I did that. And she kind of stepped back. She was, turned out, she was from California. But, you know, she kind of stepped back and looked me up and down and said, well. You're tall. You look coordinated. Come to practice tomorrow. I'll take a look at you. And I worked out with them the rest of that year. And then over the summer, they offered me a full ride to come and play. You know, I got really lucky in that. Just very lucky that I got to walk on and they liked what they saw. I worked really hard for them and they saw I was a good player and I got a full ride. So, that paid my way through school because I really had no idea how I was going to pay for the rest of my schooling. I had spent all the money I had saved. I started working. When I was 16, I had saved and saved and saved and saved. And by the end of my sophomore year, all that money was gone. And I didn't live extravagantly, but it was just to pay tuition and room and board. And that was it. But then my volleyball scholarship kicked in and that covered my room and board and my lodging for the rest of my time there. And then when getting my double E, I decided I wanted to go into aerospace. So, I kind of went into the. To the scholarship people and I said, you know, I want to go into aerospace. So, I think I should know how to fly. And they said, well, we'll have to. I mean, it was a longer conversation than that, of course. But they said, all right, go away. Let us, you know, go through the machinations of our process and we'll see. And a week later, they came back and said, yeah, we think you should know how to fly. So, we're going to pay for you to have flying lessons. Oh, wow. Yeah. You are a lucky. Lucky woman. Absolutely lucky. I mean, I was lucky in that I was putting it out there that I wanted it. But then just immensely lucky that they saw the value in it. They're like, yeah, you know, that's what you want to do. And your scholarship is supposed to pay for your schooling. So, there's an Institute of Aviation, right, affiliated with the University of Illinois. So, we're going to have you go through that at the same time. So, I was playing volleyball. I was getting my double E. And I was going through the Institute of Aviation all at the same time. Oh, man. How did you do with the pressure? That sounds like an extraordinary amount of pressure. Yeah. You know, I've always been actually really good with pressure. It's like I take on things that are big, but I know that I can do them. I just, I know that I can do it. It's like, so, now, what would be pressure for me is if somebody said, you have to go be a ballerina. Yeah. Now, that would be pressure. Because I know I can't do that. So, that would just be unbelievable pressure. But these other things, I just, I knew in my heart, I just, I knew I could do them. And I'm good with my time. I'm also willing to work really hard and not, you know, I didn't party much. Okay. So, I'll admit it. Total nerd in college. I didn't have time to party. I was working all the time. Yeah. I bet. So, you know, it was volleyball. Well, you know, school. First, of course. Volleyball. Institute of Aviation. And as I had time, I was playing my guitar and writing songs. Oh. And I got in a backseat while I was in college. I'm not going to kid anybody that had to take a backseat. But I still, I actually wrote quite a bit when I was in school. And, like, the girls on the volleyball team knew my songs. And, like, I'd bring my guitar on our volleyball trips. Because, you know, I played Big Ten varsity volleyball. We were traveling all over going to all the Big Ten schools. And I'd bring my guitar and they'd all sing the songs with me. And, you know, it was really cool. It was really innocent and fun. And I just wrote songs that meant something to me. And, I mean, I don't even know if I remember those songs. It would be interesting to find a notebook of those songs. Or somebody recorded it like your friend. Just pop one of those up the next time you go to Illinois. You're right. We didn't have iPhones back in those days. Like, probably good, you know. They'll pop out a cassette player, right? Something really ancient. Right. Yep. It was. It was cassette player. That's all you had. I remember when a Walkman, when the Sony Walkman first came out. And you could put a tape into the Walkman and then put your headphones on. That was a big darn deal, you know, back then. I know. Pretty innocent times. They were. They were. I was a pretty nerdy, geeky kid, you know. So, after you got done with college and graduated. And, I mean, how many years did that take for you to do that process alone? Yeah. I was there for five years. I was doing all that, you know. It's like I having a, it wasn't quite a double major. But it's like getting my double E and going through the Institute of Aviation. That's a lot of extra classes. And then. And during volleyball season, like I would have to cut back to 12 units. Because you just, you travel so much. When you play a Big Ten varsity sport. I mean, you just, you travel so much. I remember one of my very high level double E classes. It was a Monday, Wednesday, Friday class. And I had to miss like every other Friday. Because of traveling with the ball. And sometimes every Friday. And, you know, it's really challenging. You know, to keep up and to get the notes. And to study on your own. And, you know, all the things that you have to study on a volleyball trip. And, you know. And women athletes, you know, we don't have as many professional outlets. Well, especially back then we didn't. So, we had to get, you know, majors. We couldn't just go to school as a ghost. Just enough to qualify to play basketball. And then go join the NBA. You know. So, we had to get ready. Real majors. Because we knew we would be doing real jobs after we were done with school. Right. And I think on the volleyball team, five of us were engineers. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. A couple of us were double E's. There was a mechanical. And a civil. I think there was one other one that was an engineer. I mean, I think on the entire volleyball team, there might have been one PE major. Everybody else was finance. Business. You know, whatever it might have been. Yeah. Very left brain majors. Right. Yeah. So, after you graduated, you went to Los Angeles. Right. Did you get a job offer? And that's why you ended up going to L.A. And so, that's the next chapter. So, what happened during that time? So, my senior year at U of I. Well, my second senior year, I guess. You can call it because I was there five years. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And so, that last year of school, I started interviewing. And when you go to the number two engineering school in the nation, you know, for electrical engineering, companies flock to U of I to recruit double E graduates, electrical engineering graduates. And especially at that time, you know, defense contracting was gigantic. They could not hire enough good engineers. So, you know, I always say I was more of a rock star. I was more of a rock star when I was a graduating double E from the U of I than I've ever been as a rock star, you know, in my life. Because I got flown. I was wined and dined. I had really good grades. And I was wined and dined. I was flown all over the country on job interviews. I turned them down. I was starting to get afraid that I was not going to graduate because I was missing so much class to go on this job interview. Mm-hmm. And I, you know, I flew out to California several times. Flew down to Texas, yada, yada, all these things. So I took a job with TRW Aerospace here in Redondo Beach, Southern California. And that's what got me out here. And within like a month of getting out here, I went to a music store and answered my first ad to join a band. I mean, I was very, very much intent on, you know, exploring my music once I got here. Right. Well, at that point, too, you must have needed the balance, you know, from doing so much schooling and so much left brain activity to coming in and integrating your music and to just, you know, having that whole life balance. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I was really excited about playing music. I was 23 years old. And when I left Illinois, you know, my mom's like, really? You're going 2,200 miles away or whatever it is. Right. And I just said, I'm going to do it. Oh, mom, I'm just going to go have an adventure for a couple of years. I'll be back. Well, you know, I never went back because I started my life out here and then I started my bands out here. And then, you know, it just never turned out that I went back to Illinois. But yeah, I just think, you know, engineering is a great field. I enjoyed it. I worked with wonderful people. It was a good job, but it wasn't music. It just wasn't music. And I was an engineer for three years. And while I was, I would just go home from work and play my guitar all night. I just, I rent, when I first came out here, I didn't know anybody. I just rented a room in a house and I would go to TRW and be Lori, the engineer all day. And then I would come home and play my guitar all night. And, you know, I got in this band and, you know, it was just a beginning band. But interestingly enough, the bass player in that band, the very first band I was ever in, is still my bass player now. To this day, he's the bass player in more than a band. Yeah. And that's where we met. Yeah. And we've been making music together ever since. Oh, that's amazing. That's, you know, that's the power of music is that when you get together with the right combination, they turn into like extended family. Oh, yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah. And I see how you play off of each other and just the comfort level. So, yeah, we'll talk about your band. Yeah. It's been a little while here. So you were playing like cover music for quite a while, right? You were playing rock and... Yeah, definitely rock and roll. And eventually, I'm not exactly sure how many iterations of bands it went through, but eventually it was me on guitar, Pat on bass, and we had another buddy of ours, John, on the drums. And we were doing a power trio. So we were just doing all whatever rock and roll coverage you could do as a power. You know, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix and Pat Benatar and Heart and Joan Jett and, you know, whatever songs we could do as a Clapton and Cream and, you know, various things. And we did bar band stuff for a long time, had a lot of fun with it. And then after three years of being an engineer, I kind of walked into my boss at TRW, who, interestingly enough, looked exactly like... Like the Marlboro Man. Remember that? Yes. Skinny, weathered, kind of, you know... He should have worn a cowboy hat every day. And then he could... And he was the nicest guy on the planet. But I remember walking in and just saying, Bob, I'm quitting engineering. I'm going to go play music full time. And I thought he was going to fall out of his chair. And, you know, and that was the start of my serious musical career. And I did play full time in, you know, back in those days when you were in top 40 bands, we called them. You would play five nights a week in one club. You know, the clubs, it would be a Tuesday through Saturday. You would play from 9 to 1.30 in that club. And then a lot of times on Sunday, Monday, you'd go off and do an off-night gig, it was called, at some other club. And then we traveled all over California doing that. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's kind of a rough life because it's like, you know, a lot of times the bars don't pay that much money. Hopefully people tip you. So what kind of hardships did that cause you? Oh, definitely. I mean, you know, I went from having an engineer's salary to having a musician's salary. So, I mean, you know, it was like a 90% pay cut or something, you know. And I mean, it was super hard. I remember saying there was a three year period of my life. Where I didn't buy one new thing. I mean, not a pair of socks. I mean, not everything that I got was from a secondhand store, you know, and you made do, you figured it out. I mean, it was hard. That part was hard. But it, I got to be better really fast because I was playing four and a half hours every night at the gig. And then I'd be in my hotel room playing for like four hours. Four hours a day, you know, listening to whatever music I was interested in and playing along, just trying, wanting to be better and better. Always just trying to get better, better. I got to be better. I need to be better. I want to be better. And so that lets you improve quickly. You know, you have to have the sort of the countenance for it. Like I can sit and work on something for hours and really dig into the technique and work on it, trying to get it better. And that kind of heavy duty practicing. You know, it's a lot of work. And so that's what I'm trying to do. And so that's what I'm trying to do. And so that's what I'm trying to do. Yeah, definitely. And you had mentioned before Stevie Ray Vaughan. Yeah. So how did that end up influencing how you play now and how you ended up going into the blues? Yeah, once I, and in fact, it was the same guy that introduced me to the guitar, Brendan, my buddy back in Illinois. His sister, let me make sure I get this right. His sister was best friends with Chris. Chris Layton's wife. And Chris Layton was the drummer for Stevie Ray Vaughan. So Brendan, at some point, you know, I was in my only in my 20s. At some point, Brendan said to me, have you ever heard of this guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan? And, you know, I'm like, no, you know, so he turned me on to it and I listened to it. And that just rocked my world like it did a lot of people. And I turned my attention to the blues and it never wavered from that. I mean, it was just. It was like, bam, it was like this giant magnet pulling me in. And I like I'm very upfront. I like that modern, electric, rock and rollified kind of blues. And there's a lot of blues purists who don't like it. They only like the old school blues. And that's fine. You know, I'm happy for them that they like that. But what gets my heart pumping is that Stevie Ray Vaughan style blues. It just rocked my world. Yeah. Yeah. He was fabulous. Yeah. Yeah. So I just. But, you know, as soon as you like Stevie Ray Vaughan, now you're going to find out about Albert King. And then you're going to go, who's this guy? And then you hear Albert King and you're like, wow, no wonder Stevie likes Stevie Ray Vaughan. Sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan because he sounds like Albert King. And then that then then I you know, you learn about Freddie King and B.B. King. Even though I grew up in Illinois, I didn't know about the Chicago blues scene because I was in Little Pink. He rural kind of Illinois. I didn't know about that. So, you know, it's like Stevie was my gateway drug into the blues. And, you know, that's a. You know, that's just been a one way street for me. I just I love that music and everything that I find out about it. I wish I had more hours in the day to explore all the types of blues that exist, because to me, they're all exciting. I love them all. I love the. The high energy Stevie Ray Vaughan type blues the best. That's my favorite. But I really love all forms of the blues. I just think it's all interesting, fascinating. They all have their own vocabulary and technique and style. And it's really a deep, very character filled music. Right. And I'm exploring more along the blues genre also because I've been listening to one of the local K-jazz. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is a great song. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is a great song. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is a great song. And Gary, the way Wagner, the way man, right? He has. Yes, he has played some of your tunes on his show. And I love that. And I get so excited when I hear him playing your music. Yeah, he's a good guy. He does try to spotlight independent artists, which I think is really admirable because, you know, the music business has changed a lot. And it's really challenging. And I appreciate Gary Wagner and his spotlighting the local Southern California talent because, you know, we're not like local band in the sense that we're not professional. We're just local to Southern California. And, you know, we form our own labels and we get out there. Bands like us, we're not the only ones, but, you know, bands like us, we're touring across the U.S. And we get out there and do it. We just don't have a great big record label like, you know. Like the pop stars. Right. And it's still, you know, a challenge to make it and to book the gigs. And, you know, so some of the old situations are still in place with trying to get your music out and trying to get gigs. So I'm going to play another cut off of your Breathe Deep album. It's called It Only Hurts When I Breathe. Love this tune. It's just very soulful. And the first time I heard this, it just, my heart just clutched. I went, oh, this is it. This is, to me, this really defines the blues. So we're going to come back after playing this. And I'd like to know what's happening with your life now, what you're touring and everything else. Okay? Okay. Okay. Let me say this. numerous psychology, behavioral, and health-related science graduate degrees at three campuses – Los Angeles, California, including branches in Westwood and Irvine, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. – and online. The Chicago School prepares students to meet the ever-changing mental health needs of society through classroom experience and real-world training. The Chicago School Counseling Centers in Irvine and Westwood provide caring, confidential, and affordable psychological services to individuals and their families. For more information, visit thechicagoschool.edu. I picked up the rose you left me All its petals fluttered to the ground They slipped right through They slipped right through My outreached face And inside me fingers A thousand memories crashing down I press it up to my face Oh I inhale that need Now it only hurts when I breathe The sweet scent of your cologne lingers on your favorite shirt baby Still hanging softly in the hall Yeah yeah yeah yeah It feels so gentle It feels so gentle against my skin That I can't resist No I can't resist It's a call So I press it up to my face Oh I inhale that need Now it only hurts when I breathe Oh I inhale that need Now it only hurts when I breathe Oh I inhale that need when I breathe when I breathe When I breathe guitar solo solo And you're back on Psych One-on-One with Julianne Good. And that was a Lori Morven band. She's my special guest this evening. And I love that tune, especially live. It just, it sends me chills. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I like when I write a song, you know, because I'm dealing with my own pain. And then I, you know, that's why I wrote it. And then I'll share it with the audience at the show. And people will sometimes come and tell me, you know, that song gets me through. And then they'll describe something they're getting through. And I'm just thinking, man, that would just knock me to my knees. And the thought that something that I wrote, born of my own pain, I decided to share something. And it ends up kind of being a little thing. I don't have any delusions of brand doer, but it just ends up being this little piece that maybe helps somebody deal with their pain for the five minutes they're listening to it, you know, and it just, it lets them kind of get through their day a little bit. That's just an awesome feeling. You know, it's a gift that the audience gives to me when they, when they share their stories back. Yeah. It's a transformative experience. It's I, I call it my favorite group therapy because it really is. I know what I feel like when I'm on stage and I can look out in the audience and see tears in their eyes or they've been affected somehow emotionally. And we're both, you know, caught in that moment together. And it's powerful. You know, music just is a transformative, transformative vehicle period. Like, like no other. I think it's the most powerful force in the universe in terms of connecting humanity. I don't think there's anything more powerful because you don't have to speak a person's language. If you open your heart up to their music, you will feel the emotion of it. The music transcends the language barrier and you can feel their emotion and you can experience that. And, and, you know, trying to, to explain it to people, you know, my time on stage is the most precious time in my life. It's this beautiful symbiosis that happens between artists and audience. And there's a giving in both directions. It, the cycle would be incomplete. You need, you need both directions. It's a, it's a circular flow that happens. And when everyone just opens up their heart to the music that's happening, everyone gets uplifted a little bit for that time. You know, it's a beautiful, really special time. And it's a, there's an intimacy involved. Yeah, exactly. And so what are you doing now with your music? Hi. Um, what, what's your tour schedule like? Well, we're, we're for the first time in my career, I have what's called a weekly residence where every Thursday night I play out in Palm Springs. And this, this is the first time that I've had that. And it's just such a blessing. I mean, you know, it, the, the owner of the venue called me and, and, you know, wanted me to come out and we checked it out and we played it. And then, you know, I thought maybe we would do it once a month or every couple of months. And he was just like, I want you every Thursday. So it, it's been, it relieved a lot of booking pressure off me, quite frankly, because it's like, I have, you know, 50 gigs a year there that took that pressure off. Just in terms of it's nice knowing I have a weekly thing going on. We, we have a trip coming up to Northern California in June and then later in June and early July, we'll be in the Midwest again. We typically go on a Midwest tour every summer. And we had plans. We had hoped we would be touring behind a new CD, but 15 months ago I fell and fractured my wrist and had to have surgery. And I've got, I have a titanium plate and eight screws holding my wrist together. And, and, you know, fortunately this, this motion works. So I'm able to play guitar and I feel really blessed. So, um, a big part of this year will be recording my sixth CD. So we're, we're, we're, I've been writing a lot of songs. I have close to, I don't know, somewhere between 25 and 30 songs I've written. So, um, we'll have to pare that down obviously. And, uh, as luck would have it, um, my home studio where I do a lot of my overdubbing, I, I do, we record what are called basic tracks in a big studio with a great engineer. And we get really good sounding everything, the drums, the bass, the rhythm guitar, the, you know, some of my leads and, uh, keyboards and all, we get all that done. And then we, we bring it home and I do, I do my, I sing my lead vocals at home and my lead guitar parts at home. We put background vocals, all that, uh, our home studio. Well, as luck would have it, it blew up. So we have some stuff, you know, there's some, some hurdles in my way, but they're just temporary. I got it. You know, we got to get our studio going and then, uh, you know, probably within the next couple of months, we'll get busy and start working on our next CD. Wonderful. I'm looking forward to it because it's the, the, the cuts that I'm playing off of, that's like from, that, that's like from 2011, correct? Yes. Yeah. So it's been a while. Well, you know, we, it was, I got quite ambitious and I, I put a CD out in 2007. I put the next one out in 2009. I put the next one out in 2011 and we were touring heavily. I also, you know, I teach, I got a, a, a day gig. I'm still juggling, you know, to bring money in, to put a roof over my head. And, you know, so, you know, by the end of 2013, I was just pooped. Yeah. Things are getting harder to get. The touring is just getting outrageously expensive. Hotels are unbelievable. And you know, the gig pay, whew, it's just, you know, while, you know, expenses for everything else has gone up, band pay has either stagnated or actually gone down. And it is harder and harder. Yeah. And it's just, it's just getting harder and harder and harder on musicians who are trying to tour, you know, unless you're like buddy guy, you know, I mean, you know, those guys make a lot of money, but you know, the rest of us are just scrambling. Right. Right. And, and, you know, the population changes and it's not right or wrong. I don't judge people for it, but you know, it's an interesting thing where people will, you know, spend five or six bucks on a cup of coffee at start. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, through this kind of uncharted territory. Right. Well, yeah. And then so many people, as you'd mentioned, want their music for free now, but they don't realize the cost, as you had said, of getting to where the musicians have gotten to and how much blood and sweat and time and patience and practice and everything else that goes into it. But yet they demand, and we want this, but we want it for free. You can't get that. Yeah, it's a really interesting thing. And I think people, they're not being mean. They just, there's a lot of, well, first, there's a lot of musicians who do give their music away for free. Yes. And so then I, and I think that it does start setting up a, just like there's a lot of musicians who will work cheap and heck, I've worked cheap in my life. We've all done it. Right. At some point you kind of draw a line in the sand and you say, okay, I just, I'm not going to do that anymore. It means you're going to work less, you know, because it's harder to find those better paying gigs. So you have to accept that as part of it. And you're working even harder trying to get the better gigs. And, you know, it's like you go into a studio. I mean, all people would have to do if they ever wanted to think about how much money musicians have to spend making a real record. I'm not talking about something you made at home on the free software you downloaded from heaven only knows where. But, you know, call up a professional, an original studio in your town and you start finding out it's $150 an hour plus the engineer and, you know, a band is in there for days or weeks or whatever it is. I mean, you know, we can't give it away. Right. It's expensive. It's very expensive. And, you know, I have to say though, there is a core group of people that get it. You know, people do get it. And I refuse to just give my music away for free. I mean, I'll have people who will just, be like, well, can't you just give me a CD or whatever? You know what I'm saying? Unless you're my mother. No. Exactly. This has value. If it doesn't have any value to you, that's okay. You know, you know, I don't expect everyone in the world to value my music, but I'm certainly not going to hear you say, well, I don't value your music. So therefore, can I have it for free? You know, whatever it might be. And talking about that, as we're wrapping up, can you let everybody know, how they can go onto iTunes and buy your albums, right? You know, probably the best place, the best way to start would be to go to our website. And from there you can get to all of our connections, whether it's Facebook or iTunes or whatever. Here we go. Ah, here we go. Look at how handy is that? There you go. Excellent. Yes, you are prepared. I love it. So please, everybody, go to Lori's site, listen to her music, pay for it, download it. It's awesome. I have, you know, look on her website for where she is touring. She's fabulous, her and her band in concert. That is the best experience. You will have so much fun and you will just fall in love with Lori and her band. They're just wonderful people, wonderful musicians. And I'm really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really honored to know you and your band. And can you just talk about your band just really quick as we got about a minute left? Yeah, sure. I have a bass player, pretty boy, Pat Morvan. My drummer is Lonnie Jones, keyboardist Tommy Salyers and background singer Lisa Morvan. And they're wonderful. We're a little family and we have a great time playing music together. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on, Lori. It was great to see you. And when is your next local gig happening? Well, we're trying to get something going in Long Beach, but boy, that's proven to be difficult. But so we're playing our weekly shows out in Palm Springs. And right now that's the closest we're getting to Southern Cal, unfortunately. So if anybody knows anybody that can get us hooked up in the greater L.A. area, find me on my website. Help me get a gig. I just might be able to call you on that one. So... We'll see what we can do, okay? All right. Because I want to see you again locally. It's been a few months. So yeah, excellent. So thank you so much, Lori Morvan. It was fascinating. It's really good to let everybody know how hard it is to be a professional musician nowadays. You know, and the combination of science and music is so important. I think that's what they're forgetting in our local schools nowadays. Is that music does help your brain to learn more hard sciences. So hopefully people will start listening to that. So anyways, thank you so much for being with me on Psych One-on-One. My name is Julianne Good. Please join us. We're putting out new shows like about twice a month. So please check out the rest of our interesting, fascinating shows on WePlayRadio.com. So thank you so much. Take care of yourself. Take care of each other. world We use it up and toss it out baby And acres of wisdom spurs Off the chewing up and spitting up Oh we worship the young As if grown up is wrong I ain't no kid but I'm strong And it's a long time till I'm gone Yeah Yeah Long time till I'm gone