THE PROG INTERVIEW
NEAL MORSE
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Neal Morse. The former Spock’s Beard frontman turned successful solo artist has been part of the prog world since the 90s, even setting up his own label, Radiant Records, at the end of the decade. Over the years, he’s enjoyed myriad creative outlets, including Flying Colors and Transatlantic, as well as the celebrated weekender, Morsefest. His band, NMB, are now set to release their latest concept album, L.I.F.T., and he takes time out of his schedule to bring us on a journey through his career so far.
Words: James McNair
NMB’s new album,
L.I.F.T.
PRESS/ROBERT SMITH
Neal Morse has a heavy cold and he’s sipping from a vacuum flask. Is it honey and lemon, wonders Prog? “Something like that,” he croaks.
“There’s cayenne in here, too.”
A man of many talents and projects, Morse keeps busy, illness or not. Last year, the singer and multi-instrumentalist released Deep Water, the debut album from his prog-rock supergroup, Cosmic Cathedral, while 2024 saw another of his many incarnations, Neal Morse & The Resonance, release their well-received debut, No Hill For A Climber.
“It probably helps that I wake up earlier than everyone else,” says the 65-year-old, smilingly blasé about his prolific bent. Still, with more than 70 audio releases available on his Inner Circle fan club imprint alone, Morse is clearly driven.
During two lengthy chats with Prog from his home in Nashville, he explains how his many-pronged musical existence sustains him. Morse’s latest hat-switch sees him reconvene NMB, aka the Neal Morse Band, whose new LP, L.I.F.T., follows on from 2021’s Innocence & Danger; it’s another virtuosic concept album continuing his long tradition of spiritually themed drama. Cryptically titled – the artist suggests listeners should decide for themselves what L.I.F.T. stands for – the record also sees him reunited with long-term NMB and Transatlantic foil Mike Portnoy, whose renewed commitment to Dream Theater hasn’t stopped the drummer carving out time for his pal.
An early Transatlantic promo shot, L-R: Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas, Roine Stolt, Mike Portnoy.
PRESS/TRANSATLANTIC
A born-again Christian since 2002, Morse started out alongside his elder brother Alan in Spock’s Beard’s, who took their name from events in a Star Trek episode where said Vulcan exhibited facial hair. It was Morse, though, who’d breach the final frontier, reinventing himself on all fronts and undertaking a solo career, which has involved prog and praise records; rock opera-adjacent AOR; his own music festival, Morsefest; music from his and Mike Portnoy’s Beatles tribute act, Yellow Matter Custard and much more besides.