Original woodcut by Mike Lund.

Press Release:

   Drunken Prayer… with Sam Henry showcases the band's ability to write haunting, bleak imagery wrapped around taunting, tantalizing country riffs and beats, with just the right amount of rock and stark contrast to bring to life the stories spun by front man Morgan Saint Christopher.
   A six-song collection recorded live at Centaur Guitars in Portland, Oregon, in their parking lot during their summer concert series, the album features three new, previously unreleased Drunken Prayer songs that will be on their next studio album, and three songs from the debut full-length.

   The performance was recorded randomly by Rich Peterson of Peregrine Sound Recording, recorded with their current duo line-up of Morgan Saint Christopher (vocals, guitar) [through a borrowed Marshall stack, no less] and his wife Miss Audra (backing vocals, piano, organ), with special guest Sam Henry (drums) filling out the line-up. The result is an aggressive cross of Motorhead, Dead Moon, and the Band.

   Of the recording, Morgan Saint Christopher said: "This is a product of serendipity. Rich Peterson of Peregrine Sound Recording just happened to record us while fans of Drunken Prayer were clamoring for a new release.  And, with our studio album still several months off, it seemed a perfect time to release this." "Plus," he adds, "Sam Henry has never appeared on any Drunken Prayer studio albums, so we are lucky to have his recording as evidence of our extraordinary partnership that summer".

Review from Portland Music Examiner here: Drunken Prayer live cd review

Interview with Motor Jeffries for in full here: OurPdx.net

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PRESS SHOTS, REVIEW REQUESTS, AND/OR INTERVIEW

REQUESTS, PLEASE CONTACT: Alex Steininger at In Music We Trust PR

*edited for brevity, clarity, 03.09.09

American Movie Classics is running The Demon as the promo bumper for "Wild Bill" (1995) starring: Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin and John Hurt.

Wild Bill Hickok, famed lawman and gunman of the Old West, who is haunted by his past and his reputation. He is loved by, but cannot love, Calamity Jane. Dogging his trail is young Jack McCall (David Arquette), who blames Bill for abandoning the boy's mother and destroying her life. McCall has sworn to kill Bill, and Bill's ghosts, his failing eyesight, and his fondness for opium may make McCall's task easier. 

I just posted The Demon so you can listen to it here and dream of Ellen Barkin.

Harp Magazine

Straight outta Portland, Ore., by way of purgatory and a few county jails is Morgan Geer, who with his lapsed Baptist cohorts fully lives up to the bandname. Geer gets right down to the genuflecting with "I'm Gonna Lay Down in Front of My Lord," a stately, horns-and-slide-guitar number that's one part the Band, one part Tonight's The Night and several parts sinner's remorse. Later, in the woozy, Bad Seeds-in-New Orleans noir waltz "What Made Me Kill," Geer tries to blame his misdeeds on the booze 'n' pills, and his flophouse braying almost makes you want to take pity on him. Almost. Because by the time the band plows into a twang-glam-punk, positively murderous, version of Leadbelly staple "Take This Hammer," you start to get the sense that Geer likes his sinnin'—a lot. Upright citizens, drop to your knees and utter a few prayers of your own if the band comes to town. This Geer boy, he's bad news.

_{Morgan's Interview with Rachel Ritchie | Portland Monthly}

RR: Has Drunken Prayer ever played at a festival like Pickathon—with such an extensive and esteemed line-up?

MCG: No, this'll be our first. We do have a spot at MFNW coming up though.

RR: Have you played with any of the other bands?

MCG: Drunken Prayer hasn't, no. With my last group, The Unholy Trio, I played with The Gourds a time or two.

I've a few degrees of separation with some of the others. The Avett Brothers are from my original neck of the woods of Western North Carolina; we have lots mutual friends. Also I share the harmonica monster that is David Lipkind with Nann Alleman's (Flat Mountain Girls) other group, Spigot.

Then there's Freakwater who played Pickathon a couple years ago. Audra and I've played with them a lot. Drunken Prayer hasn't really been around long enough to make many friends. Plus, we're pretty unkind to our peers. Abusive even.

RR: Anybody you're particularly looking forward to seeing?

MCG: Yeah, The Handsome Family, The Hacienda Brothers, the aforementioned Avett Bros.. I had the pleasure of seeing Dale Watson at the historic Broken Spoke in Austin, TX a few years ago- that'll be a great set.

RR: Drunken Prayer has the whole gospel revival, saint and sinner motif going on.  Is that something that developed from the music you were making or was the band formed on that conceptual foundation?

MCG: A little of both. I do have a deep appreciation for the way a lot of Gospel music is delivered. I don't think you necessarily have to be singing about Jesus to reach that emotional plateau, but I recognize a higher power and I know it reflects in my playing.

Coming up with lyrics and song structure that match that kind of intensity is something I really appreciate though. Songs like "Hey Bulldog" by The Beatles or Dylan's "From a Buick 6", they're Mohammad Ali; brains, muscle and soul.  

RR: What is your religious background, and what part did music play in that background?

MCG: My folks are in both Mobile, Alabama and just north of the Bay Area. The ones that go to church are either Irish Catholic or Southern Baptist. The others are Godless hippies. I don't really attend any organized church except for the occasional Midnight Mass. If my music is informed by anything resembling organized religion, that'd come from those old hymns I've heard forever.

RR: Do you see Drunken Prayer as having picked up a certain narrative thread in American music?  Where/with who do the roots of that thread/tradition lie, and who else do you see as having contributed to it?

MCG: Inadvertently, I guess. I don't start off trying to write Americana. I don't really even listen to much Alt.Country; the new Wilco CD is really well done and I've worn out Lucinda Williams' live album. We cover a few super old blues and country songs, reinterpreted, so literally, yeah, we pick up that thread now and then. I'm influenced directly by whatever I'm into at the time, filtered through everything I've ever been into. American popular music is pidgin and hand-me-down. You hear it from The Melvins to Jimmy Reed. There's a great book, Where Dead Voices Gather, by Nick Tosches, it talks about this stuff.

RR: Who is your favorite vocalist of all time?

MCG: George Jones

RR: When and how did you start singing and playing guitar?

MCG: My mom was a folk singer in New Orleans and she showed me A7 when I was little. I wanted to play "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay". I played it over and over. From there I was on to anything by The Beatles and The Stones, heavy blues like Humble Pie and Johnny Winter.

I sang in school chorus from 3^rd or 4^th grade through high school.

RR: How do you find your audiences in Portland?  Are Portlanders receptive to your music—do they get it?  Or do you find yourself wishing you were playing for crowds in, say, Asheville?

MCG: I like the artistic checks and balances of Portland. I think folks here like us ok.

I'm playing Asheville in a few weeks and I can't wait. It's very much like Portland, but about a quarter the size. I like playing everywhere though.

RR: Drunken Prayer's members hail from all over.  How did you meet, and how did you all end up in Portland?

MCG: I met Keith at a Stovokor show, downtown at The Ash St. Saloon. Kevin answered an ad on Craigslist and then there's Miss Audra. She runs Twill Clothing down on 60^th and Division.

I'm not sure, but I believe Keith and Kevin both ended up here like me- by happenstance. I wanted to live in a town where evil geniuses walked the streets and morals were loosey goosey. My friend Marcus from Athens, GA talked me into coming up for a visit, Mount St. Helens erupted and I stayed.

RR: Do you have any favorite local bands?

MCG: This place is lousy with talent. We just finished a tour with Lana Rebel of the Juanita Family. She's easily one of my all-time favorites anywhere- and that's a short list.

RR: Where did the inspiration come from for the song "Pearls and Swine"?  (I've been listening to that one quite a bit—I love it.)

MCG: That was the first song I wrote after I moved here. I've kissed a lot of frogs.

RR:…anything else you'd like to share?

MCG: No, thank you.