DONICE MORACE

                                                                "This Life I Love'" 

                                                                 Bad Jeu Jeu

Donice Morace has raised the honestly injected authenticity level of roots-based artists to a new standard, which has been the catalyst that’s earned him several accolades in the very tough Texas country music scene, as well as giving him national recognition when his song “Goin’ Goin’” heavily impacted the coveted Music Row Country Breakout chart.

He now delivers his latest single, “This Life I Love,” the title track of his new 8-song album.

The soft pacing of the song allows room for Morace to pour his rich vocal into the twists and turns that grip someone who’s living the rodeo lifestyle, as a dusty, country western feel wraps into the traditional instrumentation to perfectly surround the overall vibe of the lyric. 

While he does paint pictures during the opening verse of the day-to-day of being a rodeo cowboy, singing poetically of how his old diesel truck ain’t seen its last mile and his leg is now doing better (presumably after taking a lick), this song craftily delves much deeper than only the surface as it digs into the “why” aspect of having to be a part of this life and how it’s not just a flash by, passing hobby.

The deeper, it runs in my blood aspect of the why arrives in the second verse as Morace sings of family lineage:

“Daddy busted broncs in Colorado

Mama barrel raced the circuit in Cheyenne”

But it’s through quick glimpses offered throughout the lyric that he spotlights how deep that lineage runs within him today, giving the song its truest depth:

“It’s in my heart, it’s in my head, it’s in my blood

This rodeo is the life I love”

“It’s not just want I do, it’s simply who I am”

Modern country music only briefly touches on visual aspects of the cowboy and rodeo lifestyle within the mainstream these days, but artists such as Donice Morace are turning heads by embracing influences of guys like Marc Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd, Chris LeDoux, and Tracy Lawrence, holding tightly to a style that was prevalent to laying the foundation for the country music branding of the 90’s, while skillfully injecting just enough touches of modern flare to give their roots style an updated feel.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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