Morgxn and Friends Make Themselves at Home at The East Room

MorgxnMattWest (14 of 29).JPG — Morgxn at The East Room, 2/2/2024
Photo: Matt West

The first Friday night of February was warm, a kind of false spring — conveniently timed, since a line formed outside The East Room for Morgxn’s sold-out Beacon album release show. Among the eager crowd waiting to celebrate with the pop songsmith, who recently returned to his hometown after several years in Los Angeles, were a music writer who flew in from Florida and several other fans who drove many hours to the gig.

After I heard the first singles from Beacon, I went back to listen to Sam Smith’s 2014 debut In the Lonely Hour, because Morgxn navigates some of the same emotional territory as Smith, despite the differences in their sound. Morgxn and his openers Crystal Rose and Taylor Janzen share a common thread in their lyrics, being honest about mental-health struggles, self-acceptance and renewal. It’s a refreshing message in pop music, which is frequently preoccupied with cheerful party anthems and woe-is-me breakup songs.

CrystalRoseMattWest (5 of 8).JPG — Crystal Rose at The East Room, 2/2/2024
Photo: Matt West

The luminous Rose opened the show with an intimate performance — her soaring voice backed by one colleague on reverb-drenched electric guitar. Rose sings with her whole body and masterfully timed dynamic shifts. I saw her at November’s Black Opry Records launch party accompanied by an acoustic guitarist, and this set was as good if not better. Standouts included the emotional “Any Other Way,” ode to her hometown “Goddamn You Kansas City,” a theme for reclaiming and reframing one’s life called “Failsafe” — and of course her anthemic “Mad Black Woman,” which was a runner-up in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest and led to her TedX talk about anger and despair. Rose is someone to keep both eyes on and a voice to hear as often as you can.

TaylorJanzenMattWest (6 of 9).JPG — Taylor Janzen at The East Room, 2/2/2024
Photo: Matt West

Recent Canadian transplant Janzen was next, taking the stage with just her Gretsch guitar and launching into “Push It Down” from her 2023 album I Live in Patterns. I started listening to this album days before the show and have been unable to stop — her voice is riveting. Janzen is a top-notch songwriter whose songs and performance were just as powerful without the album production. This was Janzen’s first solo performance in Nashville, as well as her first at all in five years. The “person and a guitar” set may be an established Nashville cliché, but her version felt fresh. She charmed the audience with stories about how her car was stolen within three weeks of her move to Nashville and showed up two months later, non-operational and covered in rude graffiti; she also asked that the musicians in the crowd suspend the impulse to judge her capo placement. She sang about religious trauma, anger and friendship in songs that were sometimes sad, sometimes sweet, but always felt honest.

MorgxnMattWest (3 of 29).JPG — Morgxn at The East Room, 2/2/2024
Photo: Matt West

In addition to a drummer and keyboardist, Morgxn’s band included singer-songwriter-bassist Carmen Dianne and singer-songwriter-guitarist Sarina-Joi. They were onstage to kick off the set with the titular tune from Beacon — but Morgxn was not. At the sound of his tenor voice, heads turned to the back of the room and eyes trailed him through the sea of faces. His T-shirt read “The World Is NOT Better Without You” on the front; after he shed his jacket, “We’re Glad You’re Here, Please Stay” was visible on the back. The message complemented the hopeful tone of the new album, which Morgxn and his band played in its entirety for an effervescent crowd.

“I can’t believe you know the words — the album just came out today,” he said at one point to fans closest to the stage. “Oh, you learned them on the six-hour drive to get here?” Throughout the set, Morgxn expressed awe and gratitude to the packed house that was singing along with gusto. His disco-infused banger “Modern Man” was a crowd-pleaser, with vocal solos by both Carmen Dianne and Sarina-Joi. “That’s how you do it, Nashville,” said Morgxn, “with the women leading.”

MorgxnMattWest (24 of 29).JPG — Morgxn at The East Room, 2/2/2024
Photo: Matt West

While the mood in the room was triumphant, the whole show wasn’t about ecstatic delight. For “To Be Human” and “Getting Older in a Modern World,” Morgxn gave most of the band a break as he opened up about feeling behind in life and other highs and lows that are part of every creative journey. The power of his songs comes from his knack of making the listener feel heard and seen through his warm voice and direct lyrics.

For an encore, Morgxn & Co. played some of his best-known songs: “Home,” which he said was making its debut with a live band, and “Wonder.” They wrapped the night with an abbreviated a cappella edition of “Pretend Rainbow,” changing the last words to “Pretendin’ there’s a rainbow / That’s hangin’ over Tennessee.”

The Nashville I know is separated into genres and categories and cultures. But throughout Morgxn’s set I found myself thinking, “This is also Nashville” — danceable pop music, truth-telling, and believing it’s the entire rainbow that makes us great, not each separate color. Thanks for the reminder, Morgxn, and welcome home.