Say Yes by Sarah Morris

“Never be the same . . . ”

Sometimes all it takes is a single note
stretched out
and you’d swear you heard your name
Sometimes all you need is that rocky shore coming close
and you’ll never be the, never be the, never be the same

If there is a place that might be considered a favorite among all places in the world for Sarah Morris, it may very well be the rocky shores of Lake Superior. Darker clouds rolled over the Sawtooth Mountain Range as the daylight was waning and the temperature and humidity dropped in response to a July cold front peering over the pine-studded peaks. Morris stood looking out at the vastness of Lake Superior drinking in what was in front of her while surveying the landscape of her new album, “Say Yes.” There was elevation on three sides as she discussed taking creative chances, relying and leaning into one’s creativity, and taking creative “leaps.”

It is here on Minnesota’s North Shore that the title of Morris' latest album came to her. “As I listened back to the initial mixes of the album while here in Lutsen, I remember how recording a line from the song ‘Love’ welled up and drew tears as I sang it.”

Love
It will ask you to fall
Say yes
Yes to the tumbling down
Turning inside out

“Being reminded of that moment in the studio, I realized that ‘Say Yes’ was the title of the album.”

“How much are we allowed to desire? That was a central question that came to me while making this album.” Morris said.

There is a dream-like quality that Morris and producer Dave Mehling achieve on “Say Yes” where triplet phrases roll into the following measures, where the magic of seeing wild horses up close pops like a soap bubble when “a crowd of fools rush in and scares those horses,” on the track “Truly Wild,” where unexpected chords draw fresh connections to the lyrics for the listener, to the orchestration that has come before, and put a finger in the pages of the narrative of the album, foreshadowing what might come next.


“I was wrong of course, but I declare it loudly.”

It is in the observation of those horses, that one idea central to her musical career comes to light. Morris has consistently excelled at stepping off of the ledge and taking that very risk of being wrong. The empathy of her songwriting recognizes and invites the rumples inherent in a truly human existence. It is on the song “Don’t Come Clean” off of her 2022 album “All Mine” that she invites the listener to, “come a little messed / come broken, a million pieces wide open.” Invitation and empathy. Saying it loudly while risking the mistake. Risk seems to be the constant in her artistry, which is a practice built on the idea of “learning by trying.” It is the very thing that fuels Morris’ enduring evolution.

Of a Time

“What was different about the process for this album was that I wanted this compression of the band, the engineer Holly Hansen of Salon Sonics, all of us together into four days at Pachyderm Studios. I wanted to see what the album would become with that sort of parameter. I wanted the album to be of a time. For the most part, the main tracking of the album was done over four days and four nights,” Morris says.

There is a supple and light malleability to each of these tracks. Some songs establish the aural landscape, the world of the song, then drift gently into states of lovely discord that draw the listener into consideration of how these new sounds affect the story being told. It is the way a mind changes once one decides to leave their love as in the narrative of “The One I Choose,” but ends up choosing to stay. It is recognition of the unreliability of memory on the song “Some of That Is True.” It is also the acknowledgement that the very details are not as important as the feelings imbued in that memory, in that time.

This album is rich with the concept of trust. “The year-long residency the band and I did at The White Squirrel in 2024 shaped this album,” Morris says. “We learned to trust one another. We learned to take giant creative leaps with one another on a monthly basis, while having an incredible amount of fun!”

Where Morris is precise with every syllable and stress in her lyrics and particular with each and every soaring melodic note and chord, she says, “I very much wanted Dave Mehling to follow his vision.” This is Mehling’s second album production credit with Sarah Morris. She thought of relying on Mehling as a way of “swinging for the fences.” Morris drew the boundaries for the tracking of these songs in the studio, and trusted her team of deeply skilled musicians and the talented engineer Holly Hansen to “say yes” and tell the redolent and layered story of this album.

Sarah Morris has a gift for drawing people in and holding them close. Her band members become family. Thomas Nordlund and Andrew Foreman, both legends of the Minneapolis music scene, have moved to far-flung points of the globe, and yet have contributed to this project. Producer Dave Mehling has been a multi-instrumentalist in Morris’ band for years. Haley E. Rydell, a stunning songwriter in her own right, has brought shadow-close harmonies and dead-on violin lines that have become essential to Morris’ sound.

The most sought-after bassist in the Twin Cities, Nick Salisbury, preferred to track late at night when working in the studio on “Say Yes,” and Morris recalls waking up with anticipation to hear what Salisbury had recorded hours earlier. Drummer Lars Erik Larson has been a part of her band the longest, and remains a steadfast source of musical inspiration. Morris says, “I trust Lars’ ears beyond just about anything out there.”

“I remember loving the recording process at Pachyderm Studios, as all of these people gave up four days out of their incredibly full lives for this album. We stayed on site, living together, and even if this album were never to be released, I would be satisfied because of that time with those people.” Morris said.

How much are we allowed to desire? Are we willing to risk the chance of getting it wrong, while still making the attempt? Dare we take the bold creative leap into the unknown? Perhaps the risk and attempt are the very things that change us.

“Say Yes” is of a time where both Mehling and Morris have achieved new heights, and the arc of the individual parabolas of their artistic fulfillments have intersected in a way that celestial bodies might swing close to one another on their orbits once every thousand years. Once you enter the album “Say Yes,” the world of Sarah Morris and Dave Mehling, you will be forever changed.

You may never be the same.

as told to Doyle Turner
July of 2025

2018 Kerrville New Folk winner Sarah Morris’ endearingly honest, expertly penned songs deliberately miss the forest for the trees. Armed with a poignantly relatable rainy day ache in her sunlit voice, she weaves a winding path of masterful storytelling and timeless Americana melody that invites audiences to join her in celebrating the magic of our everyday minutia.

sarahmorrismusic.com