Philadelphia folk artist Charlotte Morris was highly scored in a recent New Music Critique, so impressed were we with the songs from her Both Sides album. She’s worked hard to get to this point, having fallen in love with music as soon as she could walk and talk.

“By age 12 I was writing songs and teaching myself guitar, piano, ukulele, and others,” Morris says. “With songwriting, music grew from something I loved into something I needed.”

After college, Morris moved to New York to pursue theatre. “However, it was at that time that I found my way back to songwriting,” she says. “This was the biggest change I’d ever been through—making such a huge move—and I didn’t know how else to process it other than writing. A little less than a year after moving, I released my debut EP, To New York, with Love, and started to figure out how I could move forward in this crazy industry that is music.”

Morris describes her sound primarily as folk/Americana. “First and foremost, my music is rooted in honest and emotional storytelling,” she says. “I write what I’m feeling, so that might be really folky one day but super rock/pop-driven the next. Overall, my music is intimate, personal, and raw; it’s meant to feel like a conversation between best friends or a look into my personal diary.”

The aforementioned Both Sides was released in May of this year. “It is the most honest and vulnerable I’ve ever been in my music,” Morris says. “It’s a collection of stories—some mine, some inspired by others—but all rooted in truth, growth, and the messiness of being human.”

For Morris, DIY means owning “every aspect of your artistic identity.”

“From writing, arranging, and performing, to recording, releasing, booking shows, and marketing,” she says. “Of course, it’s great to have help in as many of these areas as possible, but I still want to have ownership over the final decisions and what the world sees of me.”

Morris is taking a well-earned break this summer but will be back on the road later in the year.

Visit charlottemorrismusic.com for more.

The post DIY Spotlight: Charlotte Morris first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.