Show Reviews

 

SARAH MOREY

Saturday May 20, 2023

Residency @ Virgin Hotel Commons Club in Nashville, TN

(Review by: Jeffrey Kurtis)

Lucky Money Entertainment has positioned their Monday night songwriter round at the Virgin Hotel’s Commons Club as a hotspot place to be on the busy corner of Music Square West and Division Street in the heartbeat of Music Row.

Over the past year, they’ve balanced their lineups with some of the best emerging talent you need to know with the hottest songwriters on the music publishing circuit today.

But this month sees Lucky Money Entertainment notching another monumental achievement on their resume as their founder/CEO, and songwriter extraordinaire, Sarah Morey took over the Commons Club outdoor patio on three of the four Saturdays of the month with her first ever residency.

The Tampa native, who calls Nashville home, has amassed over 30 cuts as a songwriter while building her artist path on the back of early releases such as “Courtney Drive” and “I Could Use A Bird.”

But in true songwriter fashion, the creativity within her artistry never relaxes. Morey has continually turned heads with performances at high profile songwriter rounds while churning out several well-received new songs that will appear on her upcoming project.

When a singer-songwriter is faced with the tall task of a three-hour marathon, they’ll need to skillfully read the ever-changing audience from song to song to find perfect balance within a setlist of mostly covers that will make people want to stay, against their strong yearning to display some of the own original material.

Only the truly gifted, though, can utilize all the many different sides of these ever-changing type of sets to give the audience a well-rounded introduction into where they come from and who they are as a songwriter and artist.

With expected song selections from today’s hottest female country talent, Morey shined a bright spotlight on her incredible vocal control with songs from Lady A, Lainey Wilson, Maddie & Tae, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, Morgan Wade, and on “Slow Burn” from Kacey Musgraves, the latter which saw her cascading her voice to skillfully touch the edge of its highest register at the end notes of each line in the chorus while masterfully never fully committing to tipping into that scale to hold tightly to the pocket of the groove. 

Through each song choice the audience was treated to the many different facets of Morey’s vocal prowess as she tugged heartstrings with Tenille Townes’ “Somebody’s Daughter,” carried the pain through a naturally built softness in her tonality as she dripped into the heartbreak emotions of “Girl Crush,” and moved into pure vulnerability on Sugarland’s “Stay.”

But as much as her time on stage acted as highlight reel of her voice, she also provided the crowd with several impression lasting moments that allowed them the space to take over the lead vocals themselves as everyone sang along with “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “Wagon Wheel,” while the females in the crowd held their own during “Before He Cheats,” “Strawberry Wine,” and a rollicking rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”

With the request line wide open, Morey continued to hold the crowd in her set when she delivered on her promise of trying to play all their requests with a toe-tapping, shoulder dancing run through “Any Man of Mine,” the night’s closing song, “Suds in the Bucket,” and Midland’s “Drinkin’ Problem,” adding an intriguing female perspective to the male led song as her slight drawl slid into the natural vibration embedded in her voice to add a whole new dynamic to a song.

Like with Midland’s song, Morey also inserted a tremendous amount of sass into the pop laden slap of Sam Hunt’s “Body Like A Back Road,” while offering a unique snapshot of her gritty and gravel tilts when she covered Chris Stapleton’s “Millionaire” and “Broken Halos.”

Fluidly moving between different genres to not only keep the crowd pulled in, but to also showcase her own versatility, a soulful groove radiated the hotspot corner when she lifted her voice into Corrine Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On,” a powerful sing along moment arose during the prolific Beatles classic “Let It Be,” and Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” offered one of the several pieces to the overall puzzle that is Sarah Morey’s own story.

“This is one about moving to Nashville that I didn’t write, but I grew up listening to and always thought was about me,” she told as she opened her diary through Sugarland’s “Baby Girl,” while aptly turning the pages to continue peeling back the layers of her journey with “My Church,” pouring an unmatched passion into the song as she hard strummed her guitar, feeling each chord she struck and each note she hit as her current story of still chasing her dreams in circles around Nashville elevated through each line. 

However, the most profound impact on her obviously came from Miranda Lambert, who she told early in the set was the first concert she ever went to.

Opening each of her two sets on the night with selections from Miranda’s catalog, “Bluebird” quickly grabbed the early crowd as she highlighted her crisp vocal by pelting through the paces of her range to add her own flare to the song, while “Tin Man” had a similar effect midway through the night on the new crowd that had then transitioned in.

Sticking in the Lambert wheelhouse, Morey kept the energy level high as she toe-tapped with the slyness of “White Liar,” raised drinks into the air with “Heart Like Mine,” slid into the cowboy kissed anthem “If I Was a Cowboy,” and delivered “Tequila Does,” which had arrived very late in her set but allowed her to put on an incredible vocal showcase as she impressively moved through the verses on the Spanish edged melody, while kicking into the pure, modern country bounce of the chorus.

And while cover songs are certainly a necessary factor to keeping the interest of the casual music lover who may have only stopped by for a drink or two, the true depth of a singer-songwriter sits within the scattered originals they expertly splice into sets like these.

With the autobiographical “Tame,” Morey captured a raw honesty to invite us on her journey from Tampa to Nashville, cleverly painting pictures of the calming factors that can be found within’ even the wildest circumstances such as the eye of a hurricane, while masterfully teetering this against the idea that try as you might to calm her down and change her, her go-getter attitude will never be tamed.

Sticking to the heart of her attitude she delivered “Harley,” giving us a solid look at where she got her unbridled spunk from as she pumped her voice around an insatiable groove while telling us of the rough around the edges girl from her youth who came from the wrong side of the tracks, but is also the one who taught her how to have the confident swagger that she still carries within her today.

The last of the three original songs she played, “Wild,” offered a playful up-tempo that kept everyone bopping along as it sung out like an unapologetic apology letter to her mom that revealed she’d been a little flirty with the cowboys who have been chasing after her, all which call her wild cause “they ain’t never seen nothin’ like me.”

There’s a certain way to play these types of sets so that regardless of which genre line you’re stepping on, the music always resonates with the rotation of audience members to keep them fully invested during their time spent at the establishment.

But the music is really only one small part of the battle!

Several times throughout the night, Morey genuinely thanked everyone for coming out to spend some of their Saturday night with her, while also encouraging passerby’s who were on the way to their next destination to dance and sing along numerous times, effectively pulling most of them in for a song or two.

And in what is a purely veteran move, she also never let the distractions of the loud, obnoxious party buses that passed by in parade-like fashion slow her down any. Instead, she just played up to them, waving to party goers and bumping along with whatever beat they were dropping as they cruised on by. 

Three-hour sets are very tough for many people to play, but not for someone as gifted as Sarah Morey. She found that perfect sweet spot in the balance within her music selections to make people to stay for just one more song as they sipped on one last drink, while also providing the absolute instruction manual for how to make each individual person in the room feel like the most important one there.

The next night of Sarah Morey’s current residency at The Virgin Hotel’s Commons Club is Saturday May 27, 2023.

FULL SET LIST

1) Bluebird (Miranda Lambert)

2) American Honey (Lady A)

3) Somebody’s Daughter (Tenille Townes)

4) Body Like A Back Road (Sam Hunt)

5) Girl Crush (Little Big Town)

6) White Liar (Miranda Lambert)

7) Drinkin’ Problem (Midland)

8) Any Man of Mine (Shania Twain)

9) Wilder Days (Morgan Wade)

10) Millionaire (Chris Stapleton)

11) Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver)

12) Let It Be (The Beatles)

13) Tame

14) Baby Girl (Sugarland)

15) Strawberry Wine (Deana Carter)

16) Broken Halos (Chris Stapleton)

17) Love Me Like You Mean It (Kelsea Ballerini)

18) Slow Burn (Kacey Musgraves)

19) My Church (Maren Morris)

20) Tin Man (Miranda Lambert)

21) Heart Like Mine (Miranda Lambert)

22) Put Your Records On ( Corinne Bailey Rae)

23) Before He Cheats (Carrie Underwood)

24) Harley

25) Die From A Broken Heart (Maddie & Tae)

26) Jolene (Dolly Parton)

27) Stay (Sugarland)

28) Tequila Does (Miranda Lambert)

29) One Night Standards (Ashley McBryde)

30) Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)

31) If I Was a Cowboy (Miranda Lambert)

32) Wild

33) Wagon Wheel (Darius Rucker/Old Crow Medicine Show)

34) The Climb (Miley Cyrus)

35) Circles Around This Town (Maren Morris)

36) Heart Like A Truck (Lainey Wilson)

37) Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) (Elle King & Miranda Lambert)

38)  Suds in the Bucket (Sara Evans)

 

 

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