Bio

Marques Morel is an American songwriter/story-teller, midwestern-twanger/folksinger, guitar-thumper/harmonica wailer, street-performer/wandering troubadour, steadfast woodcutter/migrant worker, a father, a son, and a friend to all.

“Taking his cue from the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, and any number of other tattered troubadours, (Marques Morel) sounds like a cross between Johnny Cash, Bob Seger, and the late John Stewart (solo, The Kingston Trio) reciting ragged tales of the American West and its once-former glories,” writes Lee Zimmerman of The Alternate Root.

Originally from the Illinois corn country, he has performed just about anywhere that anybody would listen: big city street corners around the world, county fairs, folk festivals, hole in the wall taverns/divebars/honky tonks, cabin porches, backyard barbeques, listening rooms, theatres large and small, and beside many campfires and woodstoves amongst the ghosts of his songwriter heroes.

Marques has had the honor of sharing stages with some of the great songsters of our time- Charlie Parr, Arlo McKinley, Joe Pug, Willy Tea Taylor, Riley Downing, Billy Don Burns, Pokey LaFarge, and Chicago Farmer to name a few of his favorites.

Marques has released four original albums to date: Live and Raw in Rockford (2013) and Searching for America (2014) were recorded bare bones with passion before his disappearance from from the muse for about 6 years before returning to the studio for Trail of The Ghost (2021) and Wind and Rain (2022). Morel recorded his yet unreleased Tales and Tellings record at Bomb Shelter studio in Nashville, TN. It was produced by the legendary Andrija Tokic (The Deslondes, Alabama Shakes, Ian Noe, Luke Bell, etc.) and is scheduled for release on June 28th of 2024. In response to the upcoming record, Dan McCintosh of The Daily Ripple has stated, “If you miss hearing country singers that sound like they are actually from the country, Morel oughta scratch that itch for ya.”

Known for his intense and infectious energy on stage and his gritty and honest songwriting and delivery, Marques Morel has been described by his fans as “raw and rustic” and “guts on the floor,” sometimes abandoning the mic and guitar cable to march into the crowd and lead a raucous bar or a sterile listening room into a grand finale of singalongs and stompalongs. He currently plays around 150 shows a year and will be found performing either as a one man show accompanied only by his old guitar, harmonica on the rack, and makeshift kick drum, or with his dynamically spirited band, The Midnight Wind.