Kristen Sublette

I remember the first time I heard Jarrod Morris’s music. I was on a dirt road, in the middle of no where, eastern Colorado. I was headed up to my boyfriend’s ranch for the weekend.

It was the infamous summer of 2020, Colorado was still playing COVID games, leaving my friends and I to hop state lines into Wyoming if we wanted to go to a restaurant or grab a beer. At the time I lived in Wellington, only about 30 minutes from Cheyenne, Wyoming. That summer was brutally hot and desperately dry. Three of the largest wildfires this state has ever seen tore through Colorado/Wyoming later that summer.

The dust kicked up all around my little white Nissan Murano. I had driven this dirt road many times before to get to his house, it was nothing but fields, cows, and dirt. Acoustic guitar drifted through my speakers, followed by the fiddle. My interest peaked. I glanced down at my phone seeing the “West of East” album cover with Jarrod about to light a cigarette with a horseshoe. Damn, I thought, that’s a cool cover.

I listened to the whole song, “Stampede” and was just taken aback. It was so good, I had to hear more. So I clicked to the album and started listening, trying to download it as fast as possible before I lost service at the ranch. The album was excellent, “Losing Streak,” “Coyote,” and “One Pack A Day,” immediately stood out. I cranked the speakers and jammed. I pulled up to my boyfriends house and told him he had to listen this guy. “He’s pretty good,” I remember him saying.

The easy way to describe Jarrod’s music is Texas Country. But I think that’s just the easy box to check off. His latest album, “Running on Change: The Full Album” really displays the complexity of his sound. It is rich with Americana, Indie, and the American West. The song “In Between” sounds down right bluegrassy. It is a fun experimentation into just how far Jarrod will push his creative boundaries. We call musicians artists but I think Jarrod truly displays art with this album. From lyrics that paint pictures of every day western life to songs that put words to feelings, it is ingenious.

In a Country music world full of “artists” with no real personality or sound of their own, Jarrod ripped away and set himself apart. I truly believe he is one of the most underrated artists right now. He will rise to the level of fame of the likes of Sturgill Simpson. His music is intriguing, puncy, and absolutely brilliant.

If you have not yet, go give Jarrod’s album a listen anywhere you get your music from, I promise, you won’t regret it.