Lincolnshire-based Elliott Morris is a familiar face on the Lincoln music scene. The 23-year-old is known for his “tapping” style of playing and recently won the Celtic Connections Danny Kyle award.
Morris, who was profiled on BBC Introducing in July 2010, began on Lincoln’s music scene when he started playing. He explained: “I sort of learned the ropes here so I obviously hold a lot of the venues really close to my heart. There’s a lot of intimate shows that I’ve played loads and loads of times but it’s always lovely coming back and seeing people and playing where you started off.”
Morris, who is influenced by the likes of Frank Turner, John Martyn, John Mayer and Eric Roche, doesn’t have any preference between performing at smaller, more intimate venues or on bigger stages. He said: “It all depends on who is playing on the night, what kind of gig it is. There’s nothing like playing a really intimate show when everyone’s listening and you can hear a pin drop.
“It’s sometimes quite scary as well as I find it more difficult to play in front of 20 people than 200 because you can see 20 people’s faces but 200 people kind of merge into one, but it’s fun. Every gig is different, I guess.”
Morris believes that Lincoln’s music scene is “really lively and healthy”, but that it “just needs people to spread the word”.
He continued: “It’s the same in Lincoln as it is everywhere. I’ve got friends that complain about Lincoln’s music scene but I travel around and I see the same thing in other people.
“It’s just people at the moment don’t value live music as much as they used to and, you know, you see people complaining on Twitter and Facebook on a Saturday night about the X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent or whatever these things are and you think ‘yeah, but that’s not music’.”
He added: “If you want good music, you’ve got to be out there at the music nights, putting money into the live music industry.”
Elliott Morris is playing at The Ritz Cinema on July 19th and The Strait and Narrow on July 21st. Further details can be found on his website.