Lisa Morales

On her new five song EP Rain in the Desert, Lisa Morales once again affirms her stature as a world-class singer-songwriter, with a distinctive perspective and a remarkable capacity for looking both inward and outward. The Texas-based artist draws deeply resonant insights from her own experiences navigating the storms of life and making sense of the complex landscape of relationships.

“I just write about what’s going on with me,” she says, “so I can purge that feeling and move forward.”

Rain in the Desert maintains the high standard of emotional forthrightness that Morales established on her prior solo efforts Beautiful Mistake and Luna Negra and the Daughter of the Sun. Prior to going solo, she recorded four acclaimed albums with Sisters Morales, the beloved sibling duo in which she partnered with her sister Roberta, who passed away from cancer in August 2021.

Such new Morales compositions as ““Freedom,” “Reach Out,” “Desperately,” “Rain in the Desert” and “Flyin’ and Cryin’,” consistently cut to the heart of her experiences as a woman, mother and daughter.

Rain in the Desert was produced by noted singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Davíd Garza, and features bassist Tim Lefebvre, keyboardist Rachel Eckroth and drummer Beth Goodfellow. The EP also features key contributions from such notable guests as Rodney Crowell, who co-wrote and sings co-lead vocal on the heart-tugging “Flyin’ and Cryin,” which also features Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo on accordion; and Santana co-founder Gregg Rolie, who plays organ and provides backing vocals on the rousing, and the timely topical “Freedom.”

Lisa Morales has been pursuing creative fulfillment and emotional illumination for most of her life. Like her cousin Linda Ronstadt, Lisa and her sister Roberta grew up in a musical family in Tucson, Arizona, learning to perform traditional Mexican music while developing broad-ranging musical tastes. After moving to Texas, they attracted interest from the country music establishment in Nashville, but instead chose to pursue an independent musical path, developing a distinctive sound and attitude over the course of six albums between 1997 and 2012. The pair’s indelible vocal harmonies  and emotion-charged live performances.won Sisters Morales a loyal fan base.

Driven to pursue a more individualistic, iconoclastic path, Lisa went solo in 2011, releasing Beautiful Mistake, a revelatory song cycle on which she spun life’s tragedies and disappointments into bracing songwriting. Morales’ 2018 release Luna Negra and the Daughter of the Sun reached even more deeply into her soul. Her solo albums won universally ecstatic reviews. For example, Rolling Stone called her, “one of the most multifaceted artists to watch in 2018.” Lone Star Music called Beautiful Mistake “one of the most beautiful records that will be released all year” and “an absolutely flat-out devastating and stunning work of art.”

“There’s a strength and vulnerability to being a woman,” she states. “Two months after my daughter Graciela was born, my mother had cancer. I was taking care of a toddler, breastfeeding a baby, being a caregiver to my mother and touring, all at once. That wasn’t easy, but you stand up and keep going, and you end up the better for it. I think that it’s the same in music.

When not writing and recording her own songs, Lisa has found time for various outside projects, such as producing and contributing vocals and guitar to Hayes Carll’s 2002 debut album Flowers & Liquor, and co-writing “Waiting For the Stars to Fall’ for Carll’s 2008 album Trouble in Mind.

“The longer you do this,” Lisa Morales asserts, “the more confident you become, because other people’s view of you matter less. I’m more comfortable and pleased that I’ve stuck to creating music that accurately portrays me as who I am.”

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