Whitey Morgan devoted to music that 'makes you bob your head and pump your fist'

COSHOCTON ? Whitey Morgan is keeping outlaw country music popular in the 1970s alive, but to him it's just playing music that sounds good and his fans want to hear.

Whitey Morgan and the 78's will headline night one of the Rock Coshocton Motor and Music Festival on Friday at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds. Performing prior will be Jackson Taylor and the Sinners, and the Appalachian Outlaws.

Saturday features Blackberry Smoke with Charlie Bonnett and the Gasholes, Whiteline, Tennessee Holy Water and Bourbon Legends. Sunday is a car and bike show with music and other activities. Tickets are $80 for the weekend and available online.

Morgan's band features Brett Robinson on pedal steel guitar, Joey Spina on guitar, Alex Lyon on bass and Eric Savage on drums. Morgan described their concerts as high energy country rock shows. He also said outdoor summer shows are some of his favorite to do.

"(Audiences) are looking to get away from the grinds of their jobs, get out there, drink some beers and have some fun outdoors. And me and the boys look forward to doing the same thing," Morgan said. "There's something about summertime shows, the energy, the give and take between the crowd and the band, it's so much fun."

Morgan, whose real name is Eric Allen, has been touring and recoding for 20 years. His sound has been compared to the likes of Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and David Allan Coe by Rolling Stone and NPR Music. He has five studio albums and one live disc recorded in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. The 2018 album Hard Times and White Lines got to 19 on the U.S. Country Billboard charts and features a cover of the ZZ Top tune "Just Got Paid."

"They're very basic, but heartfelt songs with a great backbeat," Morgan said on outlaw country. "The beat is so important to me. I've seen a lot of band where they're really guitar heavy, but the drummer and the bass player aren't hitting hard enough. The people aren't dancing. They're not feeling it. I think that was the thing about the outlaw thing. Waylon (Jennings) was very groove oriented. It just makes you bob your head and pump your fist with a beer in your hand."

Morgan started playing guitar at the age of 8 and has been playing in bands since he was about 12. His grandfather was a bluegrass musician and Morgan learned a lot from him. As a teenager, he attended punk rock shows. Morgan admits to his musical tastes being eclectic with him having varied inspirations.

"I would see these bands roll through with a van and trailer and road cases, just killer Gibson and Fender guitars and big Marshall half stacks (speaker cabinets). I knew right then, that's all I ever wanted to do. I still get excited when I see road cases," he said. "I love the life, the gear, just everything about it. I romanticized it so much growing up that now I'm out here doing it full time, it's pretty cool."

Any success Morgan and his band has had he attributes to the fans.

"Without them there, I'd still be playing in some corner bar for drink tickets," Morgan said. "The fact that people come see us do these songs over and over again and they tell me how much it means to them; that type of thing blows me away. I'm just some guy up there with a guitar, singing with my boys in the band."

More information on Whitey Morgan and the 78's can be found on their official website. They have a lot of live shows upcoming this summer and Morgan said some new songs will be released over the next several weeks.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Rock Coshocton Motor and Music Festival starts Friday