Lee Morgan, a Gunditjmara Kirrae Whurrong man from south-west Victoria and father of two. Lee “Sonnyboy” Morgan, a knock-down-walls guitarist, is a floor shattering and earth-moving barrage of sheer rock and country. Lee is a man to watch, as his solo career and vivacious guitar strung tunes embrace a new phase in country rock music. Growing up as a boy from the bush with musical talent on every haystack, he learnt from some of the best musicians in the country. Lee’s niche in the country-rock world derives from a history of folk, roots, country, rock and acid-country. As a child his nickname was given by his elders that carry the teaching and memories of spending time out on the Framlingham mission as a boy. Lee continues the storytelling that was inspired by his indigenous grandfather, the great Banjo Clarke (Wisdom Man) that we all share the land we walk on. Lee Joins Gman on 3KND for a yarn about his Signature Song.
“The meaning behind this song in particular has become an anthem for me and that is my ‘Reconciliation Song’.” Lee was first introduced to the guitar at age 11 when his cousin, Andrew, visited from Bairnsdale. He sat him down in the lounge room, showed him some tricks on the guitar and taught him how to play Ted Mulray Gang’s ‘Jump In My Car’. Lee was immediately addicted and soon found he was a fast learner too. Acknowledging his apparent knack for the instrument, Morgan’s grandfather paid for him to have some professional lessons and it took just two years for the music aficionado to start his first band, developing his unique country/rock sound.
The processes of song writing and storytelling hold especially meaningful to the Australian musician as, for him, music is an important tool for communication. “I draw upon many different places, spaces, stories and experiences to create my music. Love lost, love found – anything from a sunny day with friends, to the most political or controversial.” People who reciprocate his overwhelming energy and passion for creating and sharing music further play a large part in inspiring Morgan’s work. Reconciliation is an important time to consider the place we all take upon this land that is considered sacred by First Peoples as it has been for thousands of years. Every day we all walk this land, breath the air on this land, and a vast majority, listen to music on this land.
So where does value lay within all of this music ? Who determines it? There are so many parameters of quantifying that exist within the ascertaining of value scaling from that of the casual music listener to the Industrial lenses that be. It must be acknowledged that First Peoples custodians of this land cared for this land in a special way for 60,000 plus years that led to copious resources being present at time of Colonisation.
“As an artist and musician, I have the responsibility to share and to uplift and to inspire. And to just spread the good word – and I am not talking about religion here. It’s more about fighting the good fight and to tell it how it is. “I love what I do -the creating, the sharing and the travel. This stuff isn’t work, it’s passion.”