Americana band Morganway returning to Cambridge
Morganway are a six-piece Americana outfit from the East of England. Singer SJ Mortimer hails from Cambridge, though now lives in Pampisford, and will be returning to the city with her bandmates in a few days’ time for a gig.
After releasing their self-titled debut album in August 2019 to much acclaim, including praise from Bob Harris, the sextet have since performed at numerous festivals, such as Glastonbury, C2C and the Long Road Festival, and put out their second album, Back to Zero, in May.
Speaking to the Cambridge Independent having recently returned from Morganway’s first tour of Germany, where they supported powerhouse vocalist Elles Bailey, SJ notes that the reaction to the new music has been “really good”.
“We do a tour every year and this last tour was definitely our best yet,” she says, “we’re starting to have people sing along to our songs at gigs, which is really cool. We did about 10 dates on our tour in the spring and I think we sold out about six out of 10.
“This second album that we brought out is definitely more our kind of sound as a six-piece, whereas our other one isn’t a real representation of us anymore...
“It was really good to get this second one out, and that’s why we’ve brought out a live album as well, because people were like, ‘Oh, you sound so much better live than you do on record!’ And we were like, ‘OK, let’s bring out a live one then!’”
The live album is titled Morganway: Live at the Junction and was recorded, as you might have guessed, at the Cambridge Junction – in October 2022.
“We thought that was kind of the perfect gig to put out, because it was a really fun one,” explains SJ, “and that’s why we’re playing Cambridge again, because we loved the last one so much.”
Joining SJ in the band’s line-up are twin brothers Callum (vocals, guitar, bass) and Kieran Morgan (lead guitar, backing vocals), Nicole Terry (fiddle), Matt Brocklehurst (keyboards) and Ed Bullinger (drums).
Three of the band members are from Norwich and Kieran and Nicole are Cambridge-based, though the latter is from Birmingham originally. The other members met Nicky, a violin maker, through the Cambridge live music scene and SJ and Kieran are married.
“Kieran and Callum are twins and that’s where the name Morganway comes from, because their surname’s Morgan,” says SJ, “and I met Kieran at uni.
“We did a popular music course in Southampton in around 2010, and we became this six-piece line-up of Morganway in 2018, so it’s been quite the journey.”
Often favourably compared to Fleetwood Mac, Morganway were named Best Group at the British Country Music Awards for two years running, and their latest album spent two weeks in the top 20 of the official UK Americana charts.
Music website Louder Than War called it “a great country rock record”, while Powerplay magazine said: “Back to Zero could well be the most uplifting thing you hear this year”.
Asked what else she and the band have been up to of late, SJ says: “We’ve had a really busy year since the album came out, and we had the tour – pretty much a packed festival season as well, with only a few weekends off, so that was great fun.”
She adds that the group also travelled to the US as well, playing a festival in Wisconsin and shows in Nashville and Chicago.
“It was a really cool highlight, going to play America for the first time,” says SJ, who notes that the group also supported Texan country star Sunny Sweeney on some of her UK dates this year, “and we seemed to go down well there as well, so hoping to go back there again.
“It’s kind of crazy to look back at this year because it’s been really full-on, and I can’t believe it’s actually December now!”
Morganway will be appearing at Storey’s Field Centre at Eddington in Cambridge on Sunday, December 17 – which also happens to be the day before fiddle player Nicole Terry’s birthday. Support comes from Cambridge musician Mr Griff.
[Read more: Cambridge singer SJ Mortimer releases new single, ‘Hear Me Lover’]
For tickets, priced £20.21, visit storeysfieldcentre.org.uk. For more on Morganway, go to morganway.co.uk.
