Fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, songwriter and leading Old-Time musician John D. Morris was born in Ivydale, Clay County, West Virginia on September 3, 1946. He grew up in a family of farmers and teachers who also played music.
Morris started playing music at seven. He learned clawhammer banjo from his grandfather Amos Morris, and guitar from his mother Anna Hill Morris. When he was ten, admired Clay County fiddler French Carpenter gave him his first fiddle lessons. Morris also studied with Clay County fiddlers Wilson Douglas, Ira Mullins, Lee Triplett, and Doc White, among others.
In 1965, John and his brother David (singer-songwriter, and guitarist) formed their band, the Morris Brothers.
In 1968, the Morris bothers became interested in labor rights, leading to them offering their music to Joseph A. “Jock” Yablonski’s campaign for president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). As they traveled throuighout the region and the United States with the UMWA into the following decade, they shared their original and traditional songs performed in the Clay County style.
John and David saw traditional mountain culture as a source of inspiration for Appalachian people in their struggle against exploitation by the mining industry. That connection was recognized by Barbara Kopple, who featured the Morris Brothers’ music in her Academy Award-winning documentary Harlan County, USA, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, John and David hosted old-time music festivals across the state and region, including the Morris Family Old-Time Music Festival at their family home place. That festival model, located in the rural areas where the tradition and its practitioners lived and which encouraged sharing between locals and outsiders, young and old, became the benchmark for a community-based traditional music festival in Appalachia.
Morris has imparted fiddle and banjo classes at the traditional music camp Allegheny Echoes, the Augusta Heritage Center, Dwight Diller’s Yew Pine Mountain Retreats, and the 4-H Mountain Heritage Weekends. He has been recognized by the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame (as the Morris Brothers, following David’s passing in 2016), at numerous fiddler’s conventions, and was the 2015 recipient of the West Virginia Heritage Fiddler Award.
In 2018, Morris was a master artist in the West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, leading an apprenticeship in old-time fiddle and Clay County storytelling with Jen Iskow. He frequently invites young people to his home to play, learn, and share stories.
Morris continues to play a vital role in supporting and promoting West Virginia traditional music and is one of the few fiddlers to continue an older regional style, imbuing his playing with all the sounds of Clay County, its setting, its history, and its people.
In 2020, John Morris became one of the recipients of the National Heritage Fellowships, awarded by The National Endowment for the Arts,
Adapted from a biography by Emily Hilliard, West Virginia State Folklorist, West Virginia Humanities Council
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.