Photo by Adam Rhoades, taken live @ Coffee Aroma. And now, I'll pass you over to Joe Mac!

As someone who plays the guitar and gigs around a fair bit, I am very used to people who come up to me before or after my set with tales of awesome guitarists; men who can play one-hundred-notes-per-minute, or make their guitar sound like a 10 piece band, or have the ability to cook their dinner whilst bashing out a solo. Although I nod enthusiastically, I won’t pretend that I don’t find these tales of mythical, mega-fingered beings incredibly tedious, and a little insulting. Imagine if you’d just scored a match-winning hat-trick in the FA Cup Final (I know, it’s a rubbish comparison), but you leave the pitch only to be regaled with tales of other people who scored 4 goals in the same situation.

However, for the 18 year old Elliott Morris, who hails from Lincoln, I have to make an exception. I won’t insult your intelligence by waxing lyrical about his superhuman abilities on the guitar because that would be annoying. I’m simply going to tell you that he’s rather good. Rather Jaw-droppingly good. Without veering off into the realms of hyper-bole, when Elliott plays, heads turn and people start pinching themselves. As grumpy as I sounded in my lengthy introduction, I believe in credit where it’s due, and the young Mr Morris definitely deserves it.

The most obvious comparison in his style of playing is Newton Faulkner. Yes, using three fancy pick-ups, he can create a big-sounding drum beat by tapping the body of the guitar, whilst simultaneously playing the strings with much precision and grooviness. That’s his style in a nutshell but, having shared quite few gigs with Elliott, I can happily say there’s much more to him; he is not a one-trick pony. The Faulkner comparisons end abruptly, as Lincoln’s own tappy-troubadour arguably possesses better clothes, hair (ginger hippy, anyone?) and, most importantly, songs. When you’ve got over watching the blizzard of hands, it’s impossible to miss the fantastic hit-potential of clever, emotive songs like `Half a Guy` and `Alone in the Dark`. I always chuckle with the line, “I get my order in the wrong words.” He never resorts to just showing off that unique playing style, unless it fits into the song.

Also, the great thing about Elliott is that he’s genuinely friendly. The ability to make a whole crowd swoon might go to many a lesser performer’s head, but Elliot is yet to be tainted by success, groupies or hard drugs. Here’s humbly tipping my guitarist’s cap in recommending that you check Elliott Morris out as quickly as possible. Then, in years to come, when I’m a wrinkly veteran of Kind open mic nights, you can start to tell me one of those stories about legendary guitarists, and I can say “I know, I told you, you fool".

[MP3] Elliott Morris - All I Am
[MYSPACE] Visit Elliott Morris on myspace.
[BUY] Buy Elliott's most recent EP now from his myspace.