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I was raised in a small town by two crazy alcoholics who one day took a break from beating the crap out of each other just long enough to buy me a nylon stringed acoustic guitar. I was 12. A year or so later I convinced my mom to pay for classical lessons and eventually I got an electric guitar too. I played a lot with my brother who had just gotten a drum kit and when I was 14 we played in a band with two other kids in front of our entire high school. When I was 15 I started trying out my super twisted songwriting on friends. I remember grabbing my acoustic saying "hey listen to this!" and I'd sing a song about killing my date on prom night for fresh blood. Pretty much all of the songs I wrote as a teenager were meant to be funny and to entertain. Over the years I think I've gradually become more comfortable with expressing my (ahem) feelings, but lyrics even now that aren't meant to be funny are still pretty dark, a theme that just suites me I suppose.
That was written to accompany Morgan Grace's first demo tape and, however much has changed the past deacde (a degree in classical guitar from Portland State, a flirtation with unadulterated rawk, first prize in the American Idol Underground competition), the spirit behind those words and her music, a restless garage melancholia, still endures.
Shortly after the release of her first, mostly-solo full-length The Rules Of Dating in 2003, Grace put together a trio comprised of drummer Sam Henry (punk legend behind The Wipers and Napalm Beach) and a succession of bassists that continuously performed around the northwest. Her second album, 2005's The Sound Of Something Breaking, was much more a full band project. She also spent nine month with girl-rockers Kleveland and was the subject of a documentary short.
The next year, upon a whim, Grace entered the title track of her first record in the American Idol Underground competition, and, somewhat miraculously, took first place in the pop category – along with recording packages, equipment and a five figure cash prize. The resulting windfall not only allowed Grace to properly release The Rules Of Dating but to record and self-produce her third album, Valentine, entirely by herself (save one drumming track from Henry) without compromise or departure from that initial, singular vision.
Grace's music has been used on American Movie Classics, her songs have been recorded by punk band The Decliners , and songwriter/producer Rob Daiker . She also sings the part of Exene Cervenka in an X Tribute band called Gimme an X!.