Morgan, Neal

***In The Yard, the second drum and voice album from NEAL MORGAN, finds the writer at the drum kit considering home, wandering his neighborhood to know and become known, calling out villains from his youth, swimming on tour, reaching out to loved ones, and paying homage to the painter Philip Guston. The album extends Neal’s commitment to composing exclusively with drumming and singing. Over the past several years, Neal has been widely heard and seen as the drummer for JOANNA NEWSOM and BILL CALLAHAN, having arranged and performed the drums and percussion on Newsom’s Have One On Me, and Callahan’s Apocalypse, as well as accompanying Newsom in performance since 2006 and Callahan since 2009, often times opening shows around the world. Neal’s 2009 debut, To The Breathing World, presented a particular flavor of drum and voice composition not previously presented for commercial consumption. Neal found artistic independence through the medium, a staking out of fertile ground. In The Yard is similarly a purposeful venture into the world of song from a singing drummer’s perspective behind the kit.