Low Profile with Markly Morrison

On July 23rd, 2023 a meeting of the minds occurred behind the Carnegie Library in downtown Olympia, WA.  Pat Maley and Mary Sharp (formerly of Oly rock duo Little Red Car Wreck) arrived with their new band Guidon Bear to warm up the grassy knoll for Anna Oxygen, who has lived in New York for almost twenty years, and Tae Won Yu + Rachel Carns, better known as Kicking Giant.  In between all the musi...

It's a bonus episode! Here's a little radio piece I made back in January to promote a Blind Boys of Alabama concert here in Olympia.  The gospel singing group has been in existence since 1939 or so, with its members changing over time... you know, like Menudo, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band or the London Philharmonic.  I spoke with Ricky McKinnie, who's been in the group since 1989.  He tells me...

This is the fifth installment of highlights from this year’s Scherler Sundays concert and interview series. Today’s show was recorded on July 16th behind the Carnegie Library in Olympia, WA and features performances from San Diego band The Gift Machine and Hot Rush, plus Joshua James Amberson reads from his latest book “Staring Contest.” The Gift Machine is returning to Low Profile, after being fe...

Karl Blau makes his fourth appearance on Low Profile- first as featured guest back on episode 29, and then taking over the show producing interviews with Temple of Bon Matin and Hermit Thrushes.  Now episode marks his first appearance on the program as a live performer, with a smoking hot quartet behind him.  After the performance, we discuss his goings on in Philadelphia and back here in the Paci...

The movie "Dreamin' Wild," about the unlikely and belated fame of Donnie and Joe Emerson, is released in theaters today. It stars Casey Affleck, Beau Bridges, Walton Gogging and Zooey Deschanel.  Today I'm sharing my interview with the real Donnie and Joe, along with their parents Don Sr. and Salina Emerson.  They spoke to me from their parents' farm in Fruitland, WA.  Enjoy!

Alice Stuart was a singer-songwriter from Washington Sate.  She passed away yesterday. In celebration of her life, here is Rob Smith's interview with Alice from 2021.  This episode is a cross-release between Low Profile and Rob's podcast, Welcome to Olympia.  Rob also produced this one, be sure and check out his show if you like what you're hearing. Love eternal to Alice and those close to her.  I...

Recorded live on 07/02/2023 from this year's Scherler Sundays concert series, prog-pop trio Heatwarmer returns to Low Profile in person performing a handful of songs from their latest album "It's A Nightmare" and catches up on what's been going on since the geographically dispersed group's previous appearance on this show. Olympia honky-tonk mainstays The Purple Shadows kick this event off with a...

 On today’s show, Jason Traeger of the Traegermethod podcast is filling in for me as host, presenting performances and conversations with Olympia synth rock artist Doctor Sleep and Tacoma rapper Ralph Reign. Interestingly enough, both of these guys incorporate a Nintendo Game Boy into their distinctly different sounds. This episode is being cross-released on both Low Profile and Traegermethod via...

This is the season eight premiere of Low Profile!  This season is gonna be coming at you every Friday for the next couple of months, and it’s all pretty fresh stuff.  Right now we are in the middle of Scherler Sundays, a weekly concert and interview series hosted by 3 Magnets Brewing in downtown Olympia.  If you’re in the area, it’d be great to see you there, every Sunday at 3pm through August 13t...

The band Generifus from Olympia is kind of a big deal- the group’s unassuming founder, Spencer Sult, is gifted with a poignant, understated sense of delivery. Active sincew the mid-aughties, he continues his long-term project writing songs that reflect his personal take on every day Monday in interactions with nature, society, music, and probably business. Generifus has a new album out called Rear...

Asuna is a Japanese sound artist and musician who has been performing and releasing albums since the turn of the century. I first became aware of Asuna’s music when his album “Organ Leaf” was released as part of the Sparkling Composers series in the early aughties via Lucky Kitchen Records, whose founders Alejandra and Aeron featured back on Low Profile episode 48. In 2014, when I was on tour with...

This week, Low Profile presents music and conversation with Kim Salmon of the Scientists.  This program was originally broadcast on the KAOS program Jack Habegger’s Celebrity Telethon.  Jack has co-hosted and guest hosted previous episodes of Low Profile, interviewing Lavender Country, Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Hurley and James Maeda.  Here’s what Jack had to say about this episode:     “A little ove...

 Today I’m talking with the band Califone’s founding member Tim Rutili.  Califone began 25 years ago as a solo project after the dissolution of his previous group Red Red Meat in Chicago.  You may have heard his collaboration with Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, Ugly Casanova, or his ambient rock group Loftus.  Tim has continued to do sporadic collaborative efforts over the years, but Califone has bee...

Today, my co-host Madison Nadine and I sit down with Mike Stax joining us remotely from his home in San Diego.  For kicks, Mike records and tours with his band, the Loons,  but he’s better known as a writer, having published the magazine UGLY THINGS for 40 years and running.  In 2022,  he  started an excellent new podcast bearing the same name. Ugly Things is an established authority on the golden...

Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie) returns to Low Profile with his audio engineer friend Matt Fenton to discuss the time they gave the Kamloops, British Columbia band Peace a chance. They discuss their behind-the-scenes experience facilitating the 2006 debut by the band Peace, “On Earth.” It was the first project Elverum signed to his own label PW Elverum and Sun, up to which point had on...

Singer, Author and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Famer Layng Martine Jr’s compositions have been performed by the likes of soul legends The Pointer Sisters, Featherbed frontman Barry Mannilow, Bo Diddley, Reba McEntire, Las Vegas regional sensation Elvis Presley, and Philly correspondant Karl Blau.  Now an octogenarian- with over six active decades in the background and just a handful of singles un...

Karl Blau takes over the show again, this time to speak with members of our mutual friends Hermit Thrushes, recorded at various locations in Philly back in 2021.  Band members Yianni Kourmadas, Taryn Jones and Andrew Keller share why they use the cheapest gear possible, their experiences with bars vs D.I.Y. and all ages spaces, musical influences, and tour stories including how they rebounded from...

Austin Leonard Jones is a singing storyteller, spinning narratives based in fact and fiction with a penchant for writing country-flavored tunes that feel familiar from the get-go.  Born and raised in Texas, he currently calls Ojai, CA his home.  In the past year he’s released four albums on cassette tape: a live record, a collection of new songs called “Dead Calm,” and a ten-year retrospective in...

Chronophage is a band that started in Austin, TX and has since scattered into various locations.  While on tour in winter 2021, band members Adam, Casey, Sarah and Parker dropped by for an in-studio taping at the Happy Birthday House for Channel 22 on Thurston Community Media.  Madison Nadine conducts this interview along with first time co-host Markly Morrison. The group talks about their new sel...

Born 100 years ago in Scotland, the late musician/poet/author/humorist Ivor Cutler was a self-described Oblique Music Philospher.  He released tons of art by way of radio, television, books and records.  His work, no matter the medium, is thoughtful as it is absurd, as irreverent as it is romantic.  Author Bruce Lindsay took it upon himself to write the greatest-and-only biography on the O.M.P. ca...

Jim O’Rourke is a composer and producer living in Japan after spending most of his life in Chicago. His solo and collaborative works range from pop songwriting to electronic and avant-garde, being one of the first musicians to use a computer for live improvisations. His albums have been released on Table of the Elements, Drag City, Mego, and his own label Moikai. As a producer he has worked with J...

On today’s episode, instead of our usual format, I’ve got a folkorist.  Derek Piotr lives in Connecticut, and was introduced to me by Dollar Country host Franklin Fantini, who you might remember from a bonus episode from October 2021.  Derek’s released several albums of experimental and electronic music this century (see listening links below), but in recent years has shifted his focus to collecti...

If you don’t know already, La Luz is killing it these days.  They got the thick harmonies, they got the deep twang in the guitar department, and everybody in the band brings a hell of a lot to the table.  Outside the band, they all have other music projects that are keeping it fresh.   The solo projects of guitarist Shana Cleveland and keyboardist Alice Sandahl are glorious in their own right, as...

 Hey, Markly here, this is the sixty-third episode of Low Profile. A couple years ago, my friend and former bandmate Nehemiah St-Danger told me about this band he started playing bass for, and thought would be a good match for this show. I loved what I heard- in fact, I started listening to it all the time, but I was hesitant because A: there were only two albums out, and I usually like to do a lo...

Oakland-based singer-songwriter Stephen Steinbrink, one of my favorite artists and a friend to boot, is my guest today.  Multi-instrumentalist and frequent co-host Andrew Dorsett is also in on the conversation, accompanying Stephen on piano and steel guitar in the Lounge of the ABC House.  He has released 14 albums and EPs under his own name and his earlier moniker French Quarter on the labels Hol...