MySpace a place for friends

"I was raised in a small town by two crazy alcoholics who one day took a break from beating the crap out of each other just long enough to buy me a nylon stringed acoustic guitar. I was 12. A year or so later I convinced my mom to pay for classical lessons and eventually I got an electric guitar too. I played a lot with my brother who had just gotten a drum kit and when I was 14 we played in a band with two other kids in front of our entire high school. When I was 15 I started trying out my super twisted songwriting on friends. I remember grabbing my acoustic saying "hey listen to this!" and I'd sing a song about killing my date on prom night for fresh blood. Pretty much all of the songs I wrote as a teenager were meant to be funny and to entertain. Over the years I think I've gradually become more comfortable with expressing my *ahem* feelings, but lyrics even now that aren't meant to be funny are still pretty dark, a theme that just suites me I suppose."

That was written to accompany Morgan Grace's first demo tape and, however much has changed in the past decade (a degree in classical guitar from Portland State, a flirtation with unadulterated rawk, first prize in the Artist Underground competition), the spirit behind those words and her music, a restless garage melancholia, still endures.

Shortly after the release of her first, mostly-solo full-length release The Rules Of Dating in 2003, Grace put together a trio comprised of drummer Sam Henry (legendary punk drummer for underground icons The Wipers and Napalm Beach) and a succession of bassists that continuously performed around the northwest. Her second album, 2005's The Sound Of Something Breaking, was much more a full band project. She also sang the part of Exene Cervenka for two years in X Tribute band Gimme an X!, spent nine months on lead guitar with girl-rockers Kleveland, and was the subject of a documentary short.

In 2006, upon a whim, Grace entered the title track of her first record in the Artist Underground competition and took first place in the pop category along with recording equipment and a five figure cash prize. The resulting windfall not only allowed Grace to properly release The Rules Of Dating (on her own Lady Lush Records) but to record and produce her third album, Valentine, entirely by herself (save one drumming track from Henry) without compromise or departure from that initial, singular vision.

Most recently Grace was named Best New Artist at the Portland Music Awards, and received an Honorable Mention from the Billboard Song Contest for "Valentine". Her music has been featured on NPR's Second Stage program, and placed on Mtv, E! Network, AMC, and VH1. Her songs have been recorded by punk band The Decliners, and songwriter/producer Rob Daiker. In 2008 she was invited to New York to perform at the Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition. She is currently scheduled to appear at CMJ 2009.