A country crooner whose more than 40-year career includes collaborations with Lucinda Williams, Blaze Foley, Robert Earl Keen, Warren Zevon and others is stopping in Silver City on a tour in support of his new album.
Gurf Morlix will perform at 7 p.m. April 13 at the Silver City School House in a fundraiser benefitting the venue’s arts programs.
The singer, songwriter and producer got his start in the mid 1970s when he moved to Texas to play with Blaze Foley. In 1981 he joined Lucinda Williams and her band in Los Angeles and produced two of her records, “Lucinda Williams” and “Sweet Old World.” Producing credits also go to Morlix on albums by Slaid Cleaves, Mary Gauthier, Robert Earl Keen and Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Now, the New York born and Texas bred musician is touring following the release of his ninth record, “The Soul and the Heal.”
The album, recorded at his home studio in Texas, is another chapter in a song book that thrusts the human condition into the limelight.
The record was inspired, the artist said, by the unexpected death of his musical partner, rock keyboardist Ian McLagan, in December 2014.
On the album is drummer Rick Richards, who shares Morlix’s straightforward aesthetic and whose rhythms Morlix echoes with two foot drums during his almost 100 solo gigs a year.
Doors for the Silver City performance open at 6 p.m. Beer, wine, coffee, tea, soda and water will be for sale.
The suggested donation of $15-25 will go to Morlix as well as the historic schoolhouse at 385 High St.
The one-room schoolhouse was built in 1867 to accommodate the growing Comstock community. After a south wing was added, making room for as many as 166 students.
The building continued as a school for almost a century. In 2004 the schoolhouse was destroyed by fire, and in 2007 it was rebuilt in the same architectural style, using many materials salvaged from the original structure.
Today, managed by the Silver City Historic Preservation Society, the site hosts town meetings, soup socials, holiday gatherings, a children’s summer camp, sock hops, art shows and concerts.
Morlix’s performance is sponsored by father-daughter team Robert Elston of Yellow Truck Productions and Evangeline Elston of Evangeline Presents.
For information and to RSVP, go to www.facebook.com/events/192357907923474/, or send an email to SilverCityLive@gmail.com. sz.