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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse3.jpg)
The paperback aviator
A Steve Morse biography is about to be published by Wymer. It is called The Aviator: The Life and Music of Steve Morse and is due out on May 16, 2025.
Steve Morse, guitar virtuoso (and pilot), may have broken out of relative obscurity courtesy of the classic British band Deep Purple, but he never went, so to speak, native. A full-blooded American, he was pancakes and maple syrup, not black pudding and fried egg.
Morse first came to the attention of the music world through his band Dixie Dregs. He possibly entered the consciousness of those based in the UK courtesy of the BBC’s Radio 1 Friday Rock Show that kicked off every week with his Dixie Dregs composition ‘Take It Off The Top’.
The mid-eighties saw Morse driving along arena band Kansas — darlings of US FM radio. By the mid-nineties he was ensconced in Deep Purple, helping re-build their career. His contributions to eight Deep Purple studio albums were immense. After nearly three decades, Morse’s time with the band came to a sad end has he took the difficult decision to care for his ailing wife.
In a career spanning half a century, Steve Morse’s music has touched on European classical traditions, as well as blues, jazz, country and rock ‘n’ roll… genres that are unashamedly American. Consistently voted number one by guitar magazines, Morse is both a musician’s musician as well as a fan’s favourite.
The conductor Paul Mann, who worked extensively with Deep Purple, said of Morse, ‘He was born with that instrument in his hands. I know a lot of classical musicians who envy that kind of relationship with an instrument.’
American virtuoso… and aviator. This is the story of the life and music of Steve Morse.
What: The Aviator: The Life and Music of Steve Morse
Author: Adrian Jarvis
Publisher: Wymer Publishing
Format: paperback, 234 × 156 mm, 208 pages.
ISBN-10: 1915246741
ISBN-13: 978-1915246745
Publication date: May 16, 2025
RRP: £17.99
Thanks to Tinnitist for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Is there actual input from Steve to this?
May 12th, 2025 at 03:00When I think of Steve Morse, I always think of him as the guy who made sure Purple could continue after RB’s rather dramatic departure. (Yes, I know about JS, but he was merely a very well-playing comma) and SM is the guy who really did a good job!
I never forget his comments regarding RB taking his shoes with him (compared to how difficult it would be to fill RB’s shoes!) he showed to be a very humble and dedicated bloke 😊
In here a lot of you gentlemen have been explaining how SM is handling the guitar, compared to the shoe-napper, and you are right I’m sure, but in my inexperienced ears: he sounded and sounds great 🤩
Also I’m aware of the ongoing discussion: did Purple owe SM to wait for him, while he took care of his wife?
I don’t know!
I know the situation was rrrreally difficult and sensitive, but the rest of the guys in Purple couldn’t wait for long.
Calculated?
Well, walk a mile in a man’s shoes (and you are far away when he discovers you took his shoes 😉 – sorry couldn’t help myself with this Groucho Marx comment 🤭) before you know anything about how it was to handle this delicate situation!
At my home, René is convinced SM couldn’t have helped Purple through the transition, and he really digs SMcB.
Not that SMcB is a better banjo-player than SM, but he adds new dimensions to Purple.
No matter what: I would never have heard about SM, hadn’t he been picked to play with Purple, and I’m surely happy to have heard him.
May 12th, 2025 at 05:23It’s not a classic DP song but it’s great, Ian Anderson and Ritchie will definitely like it
May 12th, 2025 at 05:47Great musician Steve Morse …
I like playing The Aviator with my armonica..😊
May 12th, 2025 at 11:24#2 Nicely put Karin! Here in the Mid West of the U.S., many of us heard about Morse because of his band Dixie Dregs. My late Brother was a BIG fan!! As for his time in Purple, I thought he did a great job replacing Ritchie! Back then, many people said “No Ritchie, no Deep Purple”!! They were wrong!!
May 12th, 2025 at 11:27Now when I think of Steve Morse …
… I think of how Ritchie in a dastardly move not only took his shoes, but also all his stage clothes with him, leaving poor Steve just a cardboard box that read “hand-me-down muscle shirts with prints (Injuns, critters & naïve art)” plus a small note attached to it:
“Here, wear those (all washed), they’ll look great on you!
Best
Ritchie”.
I can’t prove it, but I have a hunch, the departing banjo player bestowing this gift on Steve was not entirely honest …
The Aviator was a beautiful song though.
https://www.euroga.org/system/1/user_files/files/000/014/187/14187/d1ed39b30/large/IMG_0699.JPG
(Is this picture perhaps photoshopped, Steve wears sleeves? 🧐)
https://www.euroga.org/forums/hangar-talk/6460-interesting-visitor-yesterday-for-some-cirrus-talk
May 12th, 2025 at 11:59Uwe
May 12th, 2025 at 13:13Excellent question …so many of these things are absolute dross with no fact checking.
If Steve has genuinely contributed…I’m buying. If he hasn’t, I’m not !