The Mission

w/Clay Benne

Doors@4pm/SHOW@8

$8 Tickets Day of Show

Josh Morningstar Website and Facebook links.

Last night, the blue light reflected off of the cement in a tiny listening lounge in St. Charles, Iowa. A conformed church housed a bar in the front full of rogue townies, and a lounge in the back. “Turn your phones off,” the host of the lounge barked into the microphone. “Turn them off, sit back, and pay attention. This guy is quiet, and he’s going to tell you some stories.” And my eyebrows raised when his hoarse voice breathed life into a quiet, rapt crowd. With his eyes closed, he sang songs -chunks of him offered up to a willing mass. “I’m not a singer,” he said eventually, looking down at his guitar. I leaned in to listen harder. “I’m not a guitarist. I’m a song writer. “In his songs were stories and in his stories were words pushed together that took my breath away, and in his stories were words that oozed the Blood from the Before, and in his stories were ripped edges. I wanted to know it all. I wanted to know the names of the chunks and I wanted to inspect the hole in his chest and I wanted to know where those melodies come from and I wanted to know how he chooses the words. I wanted to know what he has written on the scraps of paper in his wallet and I wanted to know if his handwriting changes when he knows it’s a good one. It was a listening lounge, and we were supposed to be quiet and listen, but he played a song we all knew. And we sang the words with him. We couldn’t help it -not one single person. A crooked grin formed behind the microphone and I’m fairly certain that’s why he does what he does. Not for the lights. Not for the cheers. For sure not for the money. He does it for the people that hear the story and say, “Yes. Me, too. I have been there, too. “In a town out in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa, a group of people sang the words back to him that he had written. A melody chunked out of one disaster from his life, and sewn together with a rhyme, and maybe that’s how you heal the hurt….Vulnerability. Standing up on a stage when you’d rather be holding a pen. Sure looks an awful lot like courage.-Rebecca Cooper, Author

A curious and fresh combination of grit and humor, Josh Morningstar is knocking down stereotypes with his worn boots and unforgettable raspy voice. He is a small-town boy that originally hails from Funkstown, Maryland, and he carries those roots in a suitcase with him everywhere he goes. His small-town charm is evident in the way he greets people, and in the conversational way that he weaves the stories of his life into his music.

In front of the bright lights and behind the microphone isn’t where Morningstar feels most at home. Named the 2018 Texas Radio Songwriter of the Year, he and his Kristofferson signed guitar have knocked out melodies in dingy hotels all across the country. He’s written songs alongside Kendell Marvel, Channing Wilson, Autumn McEntire, and many more. Morningstar was also the writer of several Cody Jinks songs, including his #1 hit “Must Be The Whiskey”.

His lyrics force listeners to sit up and pay attention, and his songs are always full of truth-bearing stories. The familial connection Morningstar forges with people continues long after his shows are over. Josh Morningstar has shared the stage with some of today’s most sought after folk and country artists, including Shooter Jennings, Cody Jinks, Tyler Childers, Todd Snider, Colter Wall, and Ward Davis. Morningstar continues to lead the charge on the front lines of a new wave of country music – one full of soulful honesty, the familiar and true twang of an old guitar, and provoking melodies that tattoo stories to the souls of the listeners. His ability to write about tragedies and victories enamor his tribe of self-proclaimed “Crazies”, and the best part of it all is that he’s just getting started.

Song writing credits with: Hayes Carll, “Big” Al Anderson (NRBQ), Kendell Marvel, Cody Jinks, Erin Enderlin, Autumn McEntire, Hannah Blaylock (Edens Edge), Sunny Sweeney, Ward Davis, Larry McCoy, Mark McGuinn, Billy Don Burns, Alex Williams, Channing WIlson, Wyatt Durette, Casper McWade, Steve Dean, Chris Gantry, John Berry, Sam Williams, Waylon Payne

CLAY BENNE

“For me, music started when I would ride in my dad’s truck with the radio stuck on classic rock. Growing up around it made me want to pick up a guitar and learn to play along. But it wasn’t until late in high school that I understood how much of a hold it had on me, even more so when there’s a girl involved. Artists like Eric Church and Kip Moore helped me make sense of a lot of things in my life and inspired me to want to do it for myself by writing my own songs. Music has always been there for me in any situation and I hope that I can share that with others.” – Clay Benne