November 26th, 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of Kevin Morby’s acclaimed solo debut album, Harlem River. Additionally, Morby has announced two (already sold out) 10th anniversary shows in Los Angeles at Permanent Records Roadhouse (a nod to the original Harlem River release show, which happened at Permanent Records back in 2013). The anniversary will also see a special release of 100 copies of the album on vinyl with illustrated sleeves by Morby himself. Those will be available exclusively at the two Permanent shows and on Morby’s website. Additionally, Woodsist has released three new color vinyl variants in celebration of the album’s 10th anniversary, and are available for purchase here.
At the time, Morby was mostly known for his work as the singer/guitarist for the Brooklyn band The Babies and bassist for Woods, and Harlem River signaled the arrival of Kevin as one of our great new American songwriters. The Kansas City native called the record his “homage to New York City,” where Morby had lived for five years. The album was released shortly after his departure to Los Angeles, a place that would serve as his next creative muse for several records to follow.
Featuring eight interweaving tales of tragedy and misfortune, Harlem River painted a series of desperate characters playing out their dramas with the city as backdrop. Morby’s songs glisten with a haunting intimacy and while he always maintained that the songs are stories about other people, it’s hard not to feel a piece of him in each one; a half-imagined, half-painfully personal world of lost love, addiction, violence and prayers for the departed. Since its release, many songs on the album remain staples of Morby’s live show, including the epic title track.
Check out the music video for “Harlem River,” directed by Adarsha Benjamin and starring Morby and actress Jena Malone, as well as Nana Ghana and Tamzin Brown, featured Super-8 footage of Morby and Malone inside a Los Angeles apartment, very much capturing a very specific mood, place, and time.
Morby reflected in a press release about the debut album…
2013 was a pivotal year for me. About to turn 25, I exited the bands I had been performing and traveling the world with for the previous half decade. I also left my adopted home of NYC — the only home I knew as an adult — for Los Angeles, in search of cheaper rent and the goal of somehow surviving solely off of being a musician.
When I arrived I had a few songs in my back pocket and a desire to strike out on my own. Producer Rob Barbato (who I had recently worked with on what became the final Babies album Our House On The Hill) assembled a wonderful band around me — with me bringing in my long time collaborator and Babies bandmate Justin Sullivan on drums. From there we snuck into a commercial recording studio in Echo Park that Rob had access to work in for free on weekends.
We brought in our great friend and one of my long time musical inspirations Tim Presley on bass and harmonica. We had Will Canzoneri on keys, Dan Iead on pedal steel and Rob played guitar and bass. Around this time I had crossed paths with a singer named Cate Le Bon, who had also just landed in Los Angeles to make what would end up becoming her incredible album Mug Museum. Both new to the city, Cate and I became fast friends and she agreed to sing my song “Slow Train,” stopping by the studio one afternoon. After our albums were later released Cate took me on my first ever solo tour opening for her: six weeks in a van through a polar vortex’d North America sleeping on floors and in budget hotels, solidifying our friendship forever.
Though it was quietly released to little acclaim in the winter of 2013, I’ve watched Harlem River slowly grow over the years and reach heights I would have never thought possible. It’s truly a gift that’s kept on giving and I am forever grateful to those who helped bring it to life and the good memories we made along the way.
Harlem River turns ten this year and so we celebrate, the same way we did on the evening she was released – with a performance of (most of) the album at Permanent Records in Los Angeles. See you there!
— Kevin Morby, 2023
Harlem River Tracklist
1. Miles, Miles, Miles
2. Wild Side (Oh The Places You’ll Go)
3. Harlem River
4. If You Leave and If You Marry
5. Slow Train (feat. Cate Le Bon)
6. Reign
7. Sucker in the Void (The Lone Mile)
8. The Dead They Don’t Come Back
Kevin Morby Tour Dates
Thu. Nov. 9 – Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall *
Sat. Nov. 11 – Kansas City, MO @ Thundergong Benefit Concert
Sun. Nov. 12 – San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theater *
Tue. Nov. 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Orpheum Theatre *
Wed. Nov. 15 – San Francisco, CA @ The Orpheum Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 17 – Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium *
Mon. Nov. 20 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records [SOLD OUT]
Mon. Nov. 27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records [SOLD OUT]
Mon. Dec. 4 – Riviera Maya, MX @ Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky
Fri. Dec. 8 – Boston, MA @ The Wilbur ^
Sun. Apr. 21, 2024 – North Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival
* w/ Nathaniel Rateliff
^ w/ How Long Gone
