MORELLI

I began my musical journey at age 9. My uncle Marcello, an excellent guitarist, had just visited from Italy. As my favorite relative, I very much wanted to play guitar just like him. Marcello gave me $20 as he prepared to leave Virginia for Italy. With another $5 in savings, I purchased a classical guitar. My parents paid for lessons, an expense I now realize was significant for our family at that time... In my early teens I began playing bluegrass, learning to flat pick standards. I spent hours playing along with records, or with my father or at bluegrass jams. Doc Watson and Chet Atkins were my favorite guitarists. In my late teens I organized a 15 or so piece jazz band and played bass. I also began writing music for acoustic fingerstyle guitar, often in alternate tunings in the spirit of Will Ackerman and Alex De Grassi... At an early age I had a fascination for taking things apart. By mid teens I started having enough follow through to actually create instead of disassemble! My..