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www.michaelmcmorrow.com

Musician, composer, producer and Stolen Ogre founder Michael McMorrow McMorrow is no stranger to the Pacific Northwest Music scene with roots in two of the West Coast’s most fertile music scenes, the San Francisco Bay area, and the Pacific Northwest. He’s a gifted producer and songwriter, who not only recently produced but also contributed seven of the ten tunes on Seattle based Stolen Ogre’s recent release "Road To Jericho". Anchoring the Stolen Ogre sound from behind his bank of keyboards, he also composes and adds texture on his acoustic guitar.

Stolen Ogre went on to be a National 2005 Relix Magazine Jamoff Winner with the McMorrow composed "Icing" and highlighted as "Top Bands to Watch" in Relix December/January 2006 issue.

NEW NEW NEW
In 2007 new material from McMorrow is emerging. Recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, WA, the material includes a brand new McMorrow composition "Tequila Mockingbird" that features Harmonica Virtuoso and Blues Traveler Front Man John Popper.

"Michael and I started Stolen Ogre in my basement in Seattle, we started by jamming on the weekends, adding different players. It was so organic, just friends getting together to play, and write music that we all love, together. Road to Jericho is the culmination of the first 5 years of work. As Blues Traveler's schedule ramped up, I handed the sticks over to Rick Boice , and the band plays on. I am so thrilled by Ogre's current success and recommend anyone to see the band Live. Support live music everywhere! "- Brendan Hill- Blues Traveler

“The earliest memories in my life are associated with music,” Michael recalls, "and it's been a constant thread..."and indeed he was accomplishing notable things at an early age. His first training in music came from his Texas-born mother, and from his Irish-born grandfather Frank McMorrow, a fiddler. At 11 years old, Michael was writing, arranging and performing his own compositions on the family piano, and at 12 he won California’s statewide Young Composers Competition.

"As a youngster living east of San Francisco an extremely wise and very hip teacher turned me on to the experimental bands of the Bay area at a very young and impressionable age," says Michael, who immersed himself in the music of Santana, Grateful Dead , Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver. While absorbing the Bay Area vibe and sense of adventure his instrumental style and his songwriting were also shaped by writers and musicians who spawned from the canyons of Southern California. Musicians such as Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jackson Browne... ~ Elton John/Bernie Taupin and improvisational performers as diverse as Keith Jarrett and the Allman Brothers Band were adding to his ever expanding musical tastes. Pink Floyd... (Michael relates hearing "Us and Them" for the first time as a life changing experience) and the good ol Grateful Dead were “always wonderful musical tonic.”
Soon, Michael was hungry to write and play original music. He found like-minded players and enthusiastic audiences in the college town of Ellensburg, Washington, where his band The Yarddogs were based out of for close to seven years. The Yarddogs performed with groups such as Delbert McClinton, Jefferson Airplane, Paul Rogers and Seattle's Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart among others. One reviewer called the Yarddog sound “a shotgun wedding of electric country blues and Pacific Northwest Rural Rock and Roll.” Michael first met Stolen Ogre guitarist David Simpson during this time when David joined the Yarddogs in thier final years.

McMorrow is noted for working closely with nationally syndicated host Bob Rivers in the launch of Twisted Radio from KISW Radio in Seattle. A good fit as he not only produced the show but lent his musical abilities to writing and producing twisted tunes.

Michael applied his musical talents and his radio experience to produce an internationally documented concert for the International and American Red Cross during Gulf War 1. The show marked the debut of The Lovemongers, featuring the Wilson sisters of Heart."We had a very diverse group of performers," recalls Michael, "From the Total Experience Gospel Choir to Alice in Chains, Ade-fua African Music and Dance to Soundgarden's Chris Cornell."Michael has since gone on to produce and be involved in many Northwest benefit events.

McMorrow has volunteered with prisoners at the Monroe Reformatory, and is an active supporter of public school music programs.“It’s crucial to keep music and art in our schools,” says Michael, "It is crucial we pass this power to them, allowing them opportunities to see the world through an artists heart" adding, “Children are our only hope.”

Michael wound up on the Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere (H.O.R.D.E.) Festival tour that featured artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Merchant and Blues Traveler. His musical encounters with Brendan Hill of Blues Traveler, convinced the two to form a band. As Michael recounts it,“Blues Traveler was headlining the H.O.R.D.E. and Brendan and I would sit in on these incredible jam sessions.”Brendan moved to Seattle, the pair began recruiting other players, and Stolen Ogre was born.

Michael is currently in the studio recording and producing Stolen Ogre's follow-up to "Road to Jericho"