Singer Morgan James is shown in her dressing room with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels before a recent show.
Vocalist Morgan James swears that her two full-time roadies are bored by her five-octave voice that would measure 8.0 on any musical Richter Scale.
“They fall asleep the minute I start singing (at rehearsals),” she said, speaking by phone from her home in the Bronx.
Please. But 5-year-old Luther and 3-year-old Eunice are Cavalier King Charles Spaniels who see her as Mom rather than one of most passionate, power-pop-rock vocalists and versatile Broadway performers around.
This is to report that James’ Cabaret at The Commons concert at 7:30 p.m. today in downtown Columbus figures to include a wide-eyed audience grooving to covers ranging from Nina Simone to Aretha Franklin to the artist’s soulful originals.
In her dressing room, the pooches can snooze — and lose, to be sure, as she and husband/jazz guitarist Doug Wamble entertain with a softer set. She never brings the doggie duo onstage. She knows better.
“Oh, they are so cute that they would stop the entire show dead in its tracks,” she said with a laugh.
Doubtful that anything close to that ever has happened in the 40-year-old Broadway actress and recording star’s career — one so distinctive that a very picky Prince, before his death, granted her uber-rare permission to cover one of his tunes (“Call My Name” from 2004).
A note may explain why on a Soundcloud page online: “If Prince and Bonnie Raitt had a lovechild, who worshipped Aretha, that would be soul singer Morgan James. The sound is old and new: part blues, part R&B, part soul, part funk, and all her own.”
She readily acknowledges she is an old soul — “in every way,” she said.
Though her first Epic Records’ studio album “Hunter” contained original material that earned solid reviews, she has been known by many for her cover tune projects: “Morgan James Live: A Celebration of Nina Simone” in 2012; “Blue,” released in 2016 on the 45th anniversary of Joni Mitchell’s album of the same name; and “The White Album,” her own interpretation of The Beatles’ release, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2018.
“The overall goal is that everything I sing, I sing authentically for that style,” she said. “I call myself a continual student of music.”
She’s a student with a growing following that’s falling in love with her A-plus jazz stylings that give classic pop-rock numbers an even more hip, new life.
“I’m so grateful that my audience is so diverse,” she said. “I’m very popular with middle-aged white men, I’m very popular with Black couples, I’m very popular with the LGBTQ community, so I’m very lucky to have such a varied audience. When young people come, maybe they’re introduced to some songs they didn’t know before, and older people are sometimes introduced to my brand new songs.
“And hopefully whatever brings them to my show, they also can find something to walk away with that they can love again.”
That seems a perfect way to phrase James’ specialty at nostalgia.
The Boise, Idaho native boasts a prestigious Juilliard School opera training background, but has retained rock concert pipes that can wail with the best of them. Doubters need look no further than her Postmodern Jukebox video clip of her cover of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” — a fiery, passionate, jazz-rock version that might bring that band’s Steven Tyler to his knees.
“It doesn’t matter how many times I watch this — I get the chills every time,” one viewer posted.
James was singing a few covers as a waitress at New York City’s Prohibition bar just out of college before people noticed her potential. She mentioned that her voice was not yet the refined instrument that it is today. And she aims for more than sweet notes. Away from the stage, she leans toward baking shows on the Food Network. But she’s glad her performance schedule has filled again to allow her to be away from home and to tour.
“I think everyone is so grateful and happy that live music is back, and I know I myself am at the top of that list,” she said. “We all turn to some part of art and music in times of stress and trauma. So, anytime we can all be in a room together again, it’s a real celebration.”
