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Personalities: Music brings out the best in guitar player

Journal Inquirer - 5/9/2022

May 9—WINDSOR — When Morgan Giosa first started playing guitar, his interests were mostly in the heavy metal genre, but after an encounter with the music of B.B. King, he discovered the blues and has parlayed that interest into performing and recording blues music with a band.

"My brother (Alex) growing up, he had a lot of friends and I really didn't," said Morgan, who is autistic. "It took me until I was in high school. Now I have a best friend, he and I are inseparable, and I have a lot of other people in my circles now who I love and care about and respect and love and get along with. A lot of that came with music."

Morgan described playing the blues as a release.

"It is absolute catharsis," he said. "I would not call it fun necessarily, for me. A lot of people play and have fun with their friends. For me, it's because of my issues with motor skills and hand dexterity; it's not necessarily fun, but it's cathartic.

"I'm not necessarily thinking about people or events in my past that have been traumatic while I'm playing," he said. "Sometimes I think about unrequited love and some of the difficulties I've had in that department. Sometimes what I really tap into is the solitude that I had growing up."

Morgan said he had a love/hate relationship with the guitar when he picked it up for the first time at age 15.

"I was in high school," he said. "I was miserable and maybe this should give me some kind of outlet. I played for about a year or two, but I didn't really practice."

It wasn't until he was 21 that he discovered a way to invest himself into playing guitar.

"I found another avenue to potentially pursue the guitar because I met a jazz virtuoso, also a guitar player, who plays blues who I've since collaborated with, Frank Varela. He plays a lot of my gigs with me.

"I knew nothing about blues," Morgan said. "I knew nothing about jazz. I listened to all kinds of extreme music like Opeth and Lamb of God, really heavy, heavy, extreme metal. I discovered this guy playing with this jazz band. He has such incredible chops. It was just unbelievable, tearing through tunes by Miles Davis and Chick Corea and his own original compositions. I never heard anything like it."

Morgan said he contacted Varela and started studying with him.

"I was also pursuing a career in web development at the time," he said, working for a firm for 13 months and about a dozen freelance clients.

In 2016, he left his web development job.

"I was kind of exhausted," he said. "I'm not making a lot of money because I was an independent contractor and I also did my work really quickly. I was really disillusioned and I was really miserable and I decided why not try to get back into the guitar, but actually try to get something out of it.

From late December 2016 to April of 2017, Morgan said that he really invested himself into studying and practicing his guitar playing.

"I was staying in Florida with my father. I was absolutely miserable because I had nothing to do on a day-to-day basis. I was picking up my guitar on occasion and noodling and it was still pretty frustrating. Then I heard a song by B.B. King. I heard this song called 'Nobody Loves Me But My Mother.' I related to the feeling in it and I was just like, 'This is why I need to play music.' I picked up my guitar and it clicked instantaneously.

"It's an expression of your sorrows, but you'll find triumph through it," he said of playing blues. "You find success or confidence through expressing emotions that we all have, whether it's mental illness or autism or depression. Not even to put those labels on it. You're down in the dumps, one day. You're just not feeling good. You end up in a place where maybe words cannot speak for themselves. You can't find the words to express what you're feeling."

Morgan said that his style isn't necessarily the best regarding fundamentals and his dexterity isn't great, but it's his feelings that he can express through playing that comes through.

He said he started to make public appearances, performing at open mics in Florida.

"People didn't think I was bad initially, but when I started to really own it more and play with more feeling, I remember the house guitar player came up to me," Morgan said. "He's like, 'Why did you have your amp so low? I turned you up and you sound good.' That was the first time I bought, maybe I have something here."

Since he started dedicating more time to his playing he has released one album with his band Fake News Blues Band, which is available on YouTube and Spotify.

"I wasn't trying to make an overt political statement," he said of the band name and album title. "It was just a catchy name."

"When I play with my band, we play a lot of 12 bar blues and traditional blues material," he said. "That came to me naturally when I was in Florida."

He and his band, which features Varela also on guitar, Bob Laramie on bass, and his brother, Alex, on drums, plan to return to the studio in June to start another record.

Most recently Morgan, Alex, Varela, and Rudy Weeks played at the Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center in Middletown.

"I think it's wonderful," his father, Mark Giosa, said. "He's found a niche now. I always believed that ... something is going to click with him. I just have to kind of sit back and let's see what he gravitates toward. Something's going to click. I'm thrilled that he's so passionate about this."

Morgan's mother, Lynne Knox, encourages other parents of autistic children to help their children find their passion.

"Don't give up because some people can be so judgmental about the diagnosis," she said. "There are so many famous people now that are on the spectrum and are coming out, but there is still sometimes the stigma. Don't hide it. Find a community of people."

For coverage of local restaurants, cultural events, music, and an extensive range of Connecticut theater reviews, follow Tim Leininger on Twitter: @Tim_E_Leininger, Facebook: Tim Leininger'sJournal Inquirer News page, and Instagram: @One_Mans_Opinion77.

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