Steve the mechanic
Steve Morse sat down to chat with American Music Supply at the 2026 NAMM convention.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the heads-up.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey.jpg)
Steve Morse sat down to chat with American Music Supply at the 2026 NAMM convention.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Did I just hear Steve say he was or is in contact with The Man in Black. If so that is nice to hear and something I always quietly hoped for. At least for Steve to meet Ritchie at some point. Hooray………
March 10th, 2026 at 07:03Dear Beate,
He is indeed something else 😊
What I like about him is that he certainly doesn’t roll over no matter what things life is throwing at him 🙏🏼
March 10th, 2026 at 07:58Hi Karin, here am I’m looking After some Purple fan for trading Gillan and Purple promo or tour poster, but nobody’s seems interested in a contact…
March 10th, 2026 at 11:44🤡🤣
March 10th, 2026 at 11:50Wonderful!! Steve still sounds like a Teenager who is just having fun being able to play the guitar!! He’s in Contact with Ritchie and had some nice things to say about Jon Lord!! Fantastic!!
March 10th, 2026 at 12:04Steve and Ritchie being email pen pals was not on my 2026 bingo card!
I understand very well what he speaks on as he adapts to his arthritis and his playing. While I have a different disability, I still adapt to this day. While I know I will never play like Steve in his prime, seeing Steve slow down and adapt his playing style is a huge inspiration to me – if he can find a way, so can I!
March 10th, 2026 at 12:35Is it just me or has Steve’s American Southern accent become more prominent? Not a criticism, I like both his voice and how he speaks, but he no longer spends months on end with four Brits like he used to when he still toured with Purple. It’s probably a subconscious thing – our accents adapt according to our environment, these days Steve mainly deals with Americans unless he writes emails to an English expat and retiree on Long Island.
Given his life’s motto, I have a new muscle shirt motif for Steve mirroring occurences from the more swampy Florida regions:
https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/hd/ea785c7344385.5631099f2c89e.jpg
March 10th, 2026 at 16:50It’s notworthy that DP’s improvisational talents were also what won over Tommy Bolin when he – initially skeptical – jammed/auditioned with them (or vice versa! 😎) in 1975. He thought all Brit bands were a bunch of stiffs and was surprised by Purple’s groove and funkiness.
March 11th, 2026 at 00:40@3
Hi 👋🏼
March 11th, 2026 at 04:22Well, maybe some of the very fine people in here have some posters they would like to share somehow 😊
Sadly I have none….
Karin only has Ian Gillan ones and is not giving any of them away. 🤗
March 11th, 2026 at 09:24Cool vid, thanks.
About Steve and Ritchie being email pen friends, I wonder if it is Candice replying these emails :). I can picture something like :
– Ritchie, Steve Morse sent you again an email. He looks like such a lovely guy, should I reply him something?
– Yeah, whatever
And I have the feeling that Candice and Steve can be compatible pen pals
March 11th, 2026 at 10:23“I get along great with Ritchie” @ 7.40
March 11th, 2026 at 12:04@10
You’re completely right there Uwe!
Actually – you lot in here ought to send all your posters to me 😄
Nooooo!
I have a small but very exquisite collection of Purple items, which includes an autograph from Ian! Sadly not given to me personally, but it still counts for me 😃
March 11th, 2026 at 14:00I’m sure they both communicate behind Candice’s back all the time!
Hi Steve, how are you? It’s only been an hour since I locked Candice in the shower …
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQaryd93RTPpwqAaEwp4itWZAbhhy90AJrEUQ&s
March 11th, 2026 at 17:33Hello Karin,
March 11th, 2026 at 18:12@2
It seems as though he has regained his wonderful smile – there is a lot of laughter in this interview. Do you remember Ian’s statement when he left DP: “… and that smile will be missed”?
That, and the fact that he never gives up, make him such a wonderful role model. I wish I had more of that patience, perseverance and resilience.
@13
I have an autograph from Ian – it was sent to me by post after about two years of waiting (it was during the pandemic). I wrote my request via Caramba and Sally finally managed to send it. A year later, 14.October 2022, I saw the whole “gang” live for the very first time in Stuttgart. Being a teenager in the 70ies, my parents did not allow me to go to a gig. So what are two years waiting for an autograph compared to 50 years waiting to see them live!
@6
March 11th, 2026 at 18:16Hello Mike,
I’m sure he would like you for that if he knew you personally!
Keep playing and take care!
”you lot in here ought to send all your posters to me”
No way, I’m not parting with my Runaways POP poster that comforted me during adolescent nights!!!
https://bravo-archiv.de/nmimage.php?z=pop/1977-01-Runaways-POP-Superposter.jpg&width=662&height=500&title=Runaways
Pictures of Cherie …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etmw8JvMO30
March 11th, 2026 at 19:19Oh (wo)man, that hits hard, if your parents don’t allow you to go to rock concerts as a teen, you end up a Steve Morse fan as an adult. The after-effects of child abuse are remorseless.
March 11th, 2026 at 22:37@17
🤣 and all this time I had the impression that you’re bright as a, well, dim lidded light bulb….
Could you possibly imagine somehow that it was not your hot dreams in posters for once 🤓
But sadly I am too old to put posters upon the walls!
However this little tune explain everything so nicely:
https://youtu.be/-q9kuejj1xA?is=8Pu9KmgJD5C8bk1H
Donny is certainly not Ian, but man he sings his little heart out 🤩😍
March 11th, 2026 at 23:03@15
Ohh Beate, Steve really has a cute smile 😃
Something else I have noticed on the many, MANY, concerts recordings I’ve seen, with Steve as the guitarist, Ian often thanked him by stroking his arm, smiling to him or somehow acknowledging Steve’s formidable performance 😍
So it was possible at some point in time to get the coveted autograph from Ian via Caramba…..
Sadly he doesn’t answer me through that site 😭
Well, never mind, I live on…
Oh I guess you and I are around the same age then because I can tell you, my mum did NOT appreciate my love for Purple! And no, she would have put me in some kind of nunnery had I sneaked out of my window at the first floor, gone down the drainpipe and run away with whoever to listen to my favourite band 😄
Ohhh she was strict so no, no concerts for me either. Not with a hard rocking band, that is!
Had it been this guy I think she would have thought it was fine:
https://youtu.be/L3UclsQc8KA?is=Zj3W31hD6XSVV5fA
Yeah, I guess she herself would have payed for the ticket 😁🤓
But no no, I was much more into this kind:
https://youtu.be/yoO6sTb2vEw?is=lC75HPNCd41WMUI9
Beate, I’ve been told this particular concert should have been magnetic.
Well, I’m grateful we have recordings of it 😊
Oh and this intro by Ritchie is amongst many other examples, why he in my head is a poet 🥰
Do you like Ian Gillan Band?
March 11th, 2026 at 23:25Imagine Candice personally invites Steve Morse to come to Blackmore’s Night concert and have a jam with our Man in Black. That will be heaven to me
The song might be old folk songs or classic Mark 2 played acoustically, but whatever it is. it will make all fans happy
March 12th, 2026 at 02:06Uwe – like your tshirt photo but it’s geographically displaced within Florida. Steve lives about 1.5 north of me in Ocala (Marion County) which.is like the horse capital of the States. Your tshirt is more akin to South Florida – everglades region. So find a tshirt with something horse-centric!)
March 12th, 2026 at 10:12@17
Hello Uwe,
the POP magazine was my only source of informations about my favoirite band(s); I had every poster of DP I could get.
March 12th, 2026 at 11:41And listening to (then) SWF3 of course! (Germans know what I mean).
@17… Cherry bomb !https://youtu.be/_EBvXpjudf8?list=RD_EBvXpjudf8
March 12th, 2026 at 12:10Now we’re talking, Buttocks!
Speaking of: Cherie’s bum was kinda cute, but took second place to Jackie Fox’ curved derrière.
Beate, pop always had the best live shots of bands for posters (plus better color print and paper quality than the competition). Much better than BRAVO. The “Quo Row” one was legendary:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a2/bb/49/a2bb495d49798e15397834e8c042dcb0.jpg
Best live shot of Quo ever, even the Status Quo Fan Forum agrees. Iconic.
March 12th, 2026 at 23:23@18
Uwe, I have to admit that I’m slowly starting to like your puns. How long have you been “practising” to reach that level? Did you have to speak english in your job?
and @25 of course, the title of the magazine was written in the way you mentioned it.
Is it really true that even boys used to read the BRAVO in the 70ies?
@7 and @22: cn took the words right out of my thoughts – Marion County is NOT the Everglades!
and re Steve’s accent: IMO, he speaks with a different accent now than in this wonderful video, when he didn’t know yet that he was the one to be the “new” member in DP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk8RgVWBVJc
I like his voice, too – but foremost I like the way HOW he says it and in interviews he considers his answers carefully.
March 13th, 2026 at 15:13For me, he is easier to understand than some british guys. (I’m so glad that he is not from Texas!)
@20
Hello Karin,
yes, that is something I noticed, too: Ian’s respect for Steve by thanking him at the end of his solo with a gesture or announcing his solo with kind words. I think he was the only one that was allowed to call him “Stevie”!
Look at the last gig at the rock legend’s cruise Feb. 2022 (Smoke on the water, after the guitar-solo in that piece)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyTmRzTVyEY&list=RDFyTmRzTVyEY&start_radio=1
The Stuttgart 1993 gig is said to be magic, one of the last ones when Ritchie really was “in the mood” before the final split.
In 1993, I was struggling with my work and a 3-year-old at home and had lost the contact to music completely. I did’nt even know DP were re-united since 1984.
I was “contact lost” after they disbanded 1976. I was so frustrated and did not know which part of the “dregs of purple” I should follow and turned more to prog like Genesis (but only with Peter Gabriel, later they became too much “mainstream” and “pop”). Those were the days – before we had internet, is was not easy to get informations and my only source was the german radio SWF3, but they started to turn more to pop in the 80ies and I was looking for hard-rock played on the radio but did not find it- and I didn’t like how the music had changed in the 80ies.
So I lived in a kind of ignorance until 2020: it was August and my birthday and my daughter said: guess who is on No1 album charts in Germany this week?! (she knew about my “old” music love for DP). I was blown away with a “Whoosh” and everything was there again – and stronger than ever. It was not until then that I realized that there was a new guitarist: Steve Morse – what a difference! He took me over after the first chords. I never heard someone play the guitar like him, his playing had (and has until today) everything!
In the meantime, ( thanks to an iPad of my own) I was able to watch YouTube and ever since then I “collected” every interview and gig of Steve’s musical career that I could get my ears and eyes on.
I hope my detailed explanation isn’t boring you – but I could go on “for hours”…
Have a nice weekend!
March 13th, 2026 at 16:37Liebe Beate:
1. Sure I speak English in my work, English is the corporate language of Clifford Chance. I’d say that at any given time, 40-60% of my work output was/is English. And my low pc emails were always perceived as either legendary or notorious/scandal-prone in the firm.
2. I wasn’t an avid BRAVO reader, but I had no fundamental issues with it. If there was an issue with a story I deemed interesting, I bought it. BRAVO in the early 70s was instrumental for breaking DP in Germany, they continuously had stories on them. Lots of legendary Purple photos are by Didi Zill, the BRAVO house photographer who was close with the band. And BRAVO had its nose in the air: They were the first German press publication to report about an unknown, unsigned British band called the “Sex Pistols” and a movement called “Punk”. That was like half a year before anyone else caught on in Germany. They were also the first to report on Ritchie’s 1977 hair augmentation, what’s not to like? (But I had already noticed it at the Munich gig when he coyly wore his new fringe for the first time in Germany on that tour.)
3. As for the sex education parts, I already knew before BRAVO that petting and French kisses don’t get you pregnant and also that you are not supposed to take Patentex Oval orally (I remember it as a rather bubbly and soapy-tasting affair, an acquired taste at best of times …) nor that it helps all that much if the boy takes it (too).
But seriously, the Dr Sommer team had a crucial Bildungsauftrag, so all was good.
4. Pah, as if herons and frogs only lived in the Everglades! AI tells me:
“Great blue herons, the largest in North America with up to 7-foot wingspans, are commonly spotted in Ocala, particularly at Sholom Park and lake areas like Henderson Lake. These majestic birds, along with Green, Little Blue, and Black-crowned Night-Herons, frequent Ocala-area wetlands. They are often seen hunting fish in shallow waters.
I have herons and frogs at my suburban pond in Langen/Hessen, so there! 😂 The herons don’t even migrate anymore and the frogs hibernate in my filter pit and to the horror of my wife croak during summer nights.
4. Oh yeah, in that old interview Steve Southern drawls like hell! 🤗
5. I’m with you: I was raised on American English, American Occupation Zone, AFN radio, American School of Kinshasa, TIME and NEWSWEEK magazines. When our German legacy firm merged with Clifford Chance (originally a London firm) in 2000, it was the first time I was confronted on a large scale with British English in all its variations. That was quite a challenge – and the Brits would of course always ask: Why do you have an American accent? When I went to see a Harry Potter movie in the early Noughties to kill some time in London, I swear I would have appreciated subtitles, I only understood about half. 🤣 Over time, I got better at it, but British English is to most second language speakers harder to understand than American English – Hollywood and Netflix series have left their marks.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-qzMWyq3dwQ
March 14th, 2026 at 00:31@27
Beate thank you for the link from the concert in ‘22 😊
Pavarotti was completely right about Ian 🤩
And no I was certainly not bored! On the contrary 🤗
I love to hear how other people live with this wonderful music.
My main focus is on Purple, but I do like other bands too. And of course the hard rock is close to my heart, but I also appreciate some more classical music, even though we also can measure a lot of rock as classical, I am thinking of the long gone classical composers: Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others.
What is it music do to us?
Well for me it transcends me to beautiful places but I love to know the lyrics too. That is also why I hold Purple so dear because of Ian’s amazing lyrics 😊
And all 5 of them are good individually but together! Woah mamma 😄
My all time favourite song with Purple, well I have a lot favourites, but the top one is this:
https://youtu.be/uIaXva9akfs?is=K8AQZPDkDPLbeVCu
Ian’s voice is unmatched here! The four other guys are playing wonderfully!
And this is the song I would bring to my desert island 😍
It has everything!
It’s exciting!
It rocks!
And I am so grateful that no one of my neighbours are bothered when I listen to it very loudly in the afternoon 😃
It is a spring tune!
The rythm, the drums and bass are so amazing 🤩
Ritchie is playing out of this world, so are Jon of course ..
And Ian’s voice at 3:41 and 4:41 – this is unmatched in my opinion 💜
Purple is indeed the soundtrack to my life 💜
March 14th, 2026 at 08:09@29
Hello Karin,
Yes this is one of the best MkII pieces: the tempo- and keychanges are so good, and the bridge is wonderful and Ian put all the emotions into that part. There even is a little bit of „honky-took“ in Jon‘s playing in the second part.
As I mentioned before, their music is and was not as „simple“ as some other bands.
You often refer to Ian‘s wonderful lyrics – please don‘t forget Roger!
Ian and Roger were „hired“ as a songwriting team, and they do it very well. Someone in a post called them „the wordsmith and his partner in crime“ – I have nothing to add!
Music is a universal language and this is true: even some long gone composers touch our hearts. I like Beethoven eg., but like Steve , Bach is my favorite composer of „old times“. Steve once mentioned in the Rick Beato Interview (btw a must-watch) that if you speed up Bach, that’s heavy metal to him. I LOVE his transcription and acoustic guitar on „Jesus, joy of man’s desiring“.
March 15th, 2026 at 16:02@30
“please don‘t forget Roger!”
– whoops! Beate, you’re right 😱 I do seem to forget the formidable bassist.
He is indeed splendid. He also was in Rainbow.
Ohh Bach, Johann Sebastian…. I have to be completely honest and admit to you that I have never gotten into that composer..
If you don’t mind, will you ease me into his music?
The few things I’ve heard with him makes me rather sad, so I have avoided him like the plague.
That also has a lot to do with the synesthesia I have as an ongoing wonderful experience in my head!
But I would be so grateful if I could get some tips to what to listen to first.
I asked for the same help towards not only hearing David Coverdale’s broken voice, and some very nice people in here helped me a lot! I have listened to his early work, and boy he had a wonderful voice! Not Ian Gillan wonderful, but who has, to be honest? And I hope the same could happen with JS Bach.
Certainly I am no stuck up elitist, but there are certain aspects to life I hold dear, and good music is certainly among them. (Another is goooood coffee 😋)
However I will never pretend to like anything just because the vast majority do.
Which is also why I have a really hard time listening to Dio. But many in here love him, so I guess I better one of these days try that too.
The Charismatic Voice and now also the Fairy Voice Mother have taught me quite a lot 😊 so no no, no lost cause here 😄
May very good and very warm coffee follow you today 😊🤗
March 16th, 2026 at 07:23I’ll never forget the 1st time I head Steve’s Japanese-flavored guitar licks in the quiet middle-part of Woman From Tokyo in Total Abandon. That is too sweet, followed by Jon’s upbeat honky-tonk solo after the chorus
March 16th, 2026 at 14:12@31
Hello Karin,
re Roger, he ist not only a very good bassist, but a wonderful co-lyricist!
I mentioned Steve’s version of one of Bach’s “greatest hits” – Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2flR-0QhkE&list=RDh2flR-0QhkE&start_radio=1
And one of the best things Bach ever composed is this: (its on organ, I hope your brain does not “explode”!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho9rZjlsyYY&list=RDho9rZjlsyYY&start_radio=1
and here the guitar-version (Steve was right: speed it up and its heavy metal!!)
March 16th, 2026 at 17:38https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfN75_81oXQ&list=RDDfN75_81oXQ&start_radio=1
@31
March 16th, 2026 at 17:54Hello Karin,
I forgot something: Steve’s and Don’s wonderful “conversation” in the middle of “Nothing at all” (my favorite piece on Whoosh) is inspired by Bach!
@33: And here is Jon Lord’s version: https://youtu.be/FbYdUQHN-64?si=IkGfxm9X0L9XLuG6
March 16th, 2026 at 19:49Sky the ‘rock’ band did Toccata in 1980, two guitarists, bass, drums and keyboards. So many modern day musicians influenced by the greats from the past. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddyejhN7MrA&t=61s
March 16th, 2026 at 21:25and lets not forget Ritchie as a very impressionable young lad being influenced by these guys in bringing classical music elements into rock ‘n roll. Nero and the Gladiators 1961.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGFG9XMSsU&t=115s
March 16th, 2026 at 22:21Hey, hey, hey – let’s not forget who was first!
https://youtu.be/LgWyk2H_yVo
March 17th, 2026 at 06:17@33 & 34
Thank you so much Beate 😃🤗
I look forward to dip my toes into the world of JSB 😍
And no my head does not explode per say 😁
But when I hear awful sounds or voices the colours are not nice, however when I listen to this man:
https://youtu.be/IKFM6mQqRn8?is=SsHd1ZXKwLuN8u2e
Woah…. Beautiful colours… 🤗
He is all the golden tones and some blue too… pure sunshine with a beautiful blue sky, so to speak 😊
Even here where his voice was mistreated:
March 17th, 2026 at 07:00https://youtu.be/QqQ6ntrUEQI?is=9gq2sBkwsaB0E1Du
@35:
Jon did another version, too – wild, raw and untamed! Poor B3 and poor Jon’s back!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhiCG0yvhfA&list=RDQhiCG0yvhfA&start_radio=1
March 17th, 2026 at 18:12@ 38 – not the first as they were influenced by none other than The Nice and Keith Emerson but well done Uwe. I have never heard of those chaps, there must have been something in the water back then in The Netherlands. I will have to ask my Dutch friend if she was aware of these guys back then. Mind you she will probably do a Karin as in when we are talking about other vocalists, just roll her eyes and say, “is there someone else is there, I never noticed”. Seriously though that was good to see, thanks for that Uwe. Cheers.
March 17th, 2026 at 23:13@41
Woah MacGregor, am I really that transparent 😄😄
I guess you haven’t paid attention when I praise David Coverdale, Tommy Bolin, Donny Bower, Gary Cherone, Eric Martin and many others 😃
Well, I forgive you 🤗
March 18th, 2026 at 10:20Pleasure, Herr MacGregor, in the late 60s/early 70s, Ekseption had quite some popularity, they regularly headed the Dutch charts and even in Germany got placings as high as #7 for their albums (and you heard them even on the radio). Rick van der Linden was a bit of a Dutch national hero.
March 19th, 2026 at 04:00@ 25………😅😂🤣
March 19th, 2026 at 12:06@ 25… WUE remember this scene https://youtu.be/s1sGUr7M_tE
March 19th, 2026 at 12:18Cherie wasn‘t such a bad actress apparently! I never saw that film, don‘t think it ever had a proper German release though I did hear about it at the time. I guess I have to dig it out now, thanks for bringing it up.
I actually saw Cherie Currie live only two years ago! What can I say, she still can’t really sing of course, but she did that just as well as in her teens with the Runaways. 🤗
March 20th, 2026 at 00:36@.. That’s cool Uwe, wish i could see her but i’m in America and she don’t tour here, and i don’t get out much to other countries any more.
March 23rd, 2026 at 12:04