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Cory Morrow & Eli Young Band

Former Houstonian ups his game

A A A Comments By William Michael Smith Thursday, Aug 9 2007

You’ve got to give Cory Morrow props for attempting to make more serious music since his drug-possession arrest in Austin a couple of years ago. Something about that event and the succeeding fallout seemed to give him the space to separate himself a bit from Pat Green, Robert Earl Keen, Jr. and the rest of the Ball Cap Nation. Not that those folks have abandoned Morrow, but he does seem to be making a conscious choice to up his game on his most recent records. (You have to admit, in the right hands, getting busted makes for some great country music lyrics.)

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Of course, you’ve got to give Morrow’s costars, the Eli Young Band, some credit, too. Despite the fact that there is no real Eli Young (there’s an Eli and there’s a Young, but no Eli Young), the band stays booked up all the time, whether at a honky-tonk like the Firehouse Saloon or bigger venues like tonight’s Sam Houston Race Park. Hard work counts for a lot, and these guys work hard — Morrow has released nine albums in ten years, and the Eli Young Band has released three albums in four years.

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