When she was 9, she wrote poems. When she was 10, she wrote lyrics. When she was 12, she wrote songs. Now she’s a 21-year-old singer-songwriter.
Morgan Crouse is a senior Mass Communications major here at Colorado Mesa University (CMU). She’s been writing and performing music her whole life and has been behind the microphone at many different venues across Grand Junction. Crouse said that music is her ultimate dream and that she’s happiest when she’s performing. She said that she’s influenced most by classic country and rock music.
“If I could just make a living at it that would be the upmost success in my mind, if I could just be able to support my family by playing music, but I think that I could be happy just as long as I get to keep playing music. It doesn’t matter where or to what degree but as long as I get to perform for people, that would be amazing,” Crouse said.
Crouse said that performing in Grand Junction has a lot of benefits, specifically because of the support she’s received from local radio stations and music fans in the Grand Valley.
Kasia Kucera for The Criterion
“This field is so saturated with people wanting to make music and be heard, but at the same time, we have an amazing community here in the Grand Valley for music. A lot of people really want to support local musicians,” Crouse said. “I have found that people are really kind and they want to come out and support.”
Crouse is the lead singer of the band “Southside Highway”. The band has been together about a year and they often play at Warehouse2565 here in Grand Junction.
“Our goal is to do more than just be a cover band at the local level. We want to do more than that. And so finding the time to get together and work on our music and push it even farther than just everyone listening to a cover song and then just coming together to play it. [We want to be] arranging our own music and creating our own music. And just pushing it farther, I guess is the best way I can put it,” Crouse said.
Kasia Kucera for The Criterion
Throughout her time as a singer-songwriter, Crouse has traveled to many different locations. She said that one of her favorite places to play is in Nashville, where she’s performed at various dive bars. Crouse also said that a big part of being a musician is playing music with new people and getting to know other people within the music industry.
“It’s just amazing to play with people that are so extremely talented and so skilled at what they do, that they’re able to just pick it up. And you know, we all just watch each other. And then we play a song together that we’ve never played before in a million years, we hadn’t even met each other. And it just works out and it sounds amazing,” Crouse said. “We get to play together for a couple hours, and then we’re friends forever.”
Crouse has also played at The Bluebird Café along with her friend and mentor, Scott Brown, the lead singer of the Scooter Brown Band. She’s also played at Tootsies. Crouse has traveled to various locations and venues to play music ever since she was fifteen years old, and she said that the best part about playing live music are the reactions she gets from the people around her.
“Looking out at the crowd there is really special because everyone just wants to support the music. And so you just feel amazing when you’re playing there,” Crouse said.
Kasia Kucera for The Criterion
Crouse also plays music at many local venues and festivals in Grand Junction. One of her favorite festivals to play is the Basecamp 40 Warriors in the Wild festival. Basecamp 40 is an organization that provides veterans with the opportunity to go hunting or fishing, all expenses paid. Crouse has played at their festival since the year of its inception, and she said that one of her favorite memories is jamming onstage with all the other bands who played at the festival.
“Everyone will toss around guitars and tambourines and everybody floats through the microphones. Everyone sings together,” Crouse said. “And that’s just such a community feeling and it’s so amazing and heartwarming to have all these musicians just together making noise together for [about] 30 minutes.”
All of Crouse’s music is available on her Spotify account as well as on her website, morgancrouse.us. She also performs live quite frequently in the Grand Junction area. Crouse encourages college students and other Grand Junction residents to pursue the local music scene in the Grand Valley because of the memorable experiences concerts can create.
“It doesn’t take a whole lot for kids to just go out and listen to the music. And that gives you better memories, lifelong memories more so than just listening to the radio or anything like that. When you get to go out and experience the show from that local artist, [it]makes a bigger impression,” Crouse said.
