Prophetstown son and father play the hits

PROPHETSTOWN — Nearly 4,300 miles separate Timothy Morris from his father Steve, spanning half of the Pacific Ocean and two-thirds of the mainland United States.

But despite that distance they’re always just a drumbeat away from each other.

When the pair of Prophetstown natives get together, Timothy hits the right chord, Steve doesn’t miss a beat and the two are in their element. They’re also in their own two-man band, entertaining crowds at festivals and bars or spending hours in the studio working on their next record.

The son-and-father duo perform as the Timothy Morris Band, melding their musical influences into attention grabbing, dynamic sets of original songs and covers. Timothy plays electric, bass and acoustic guitars, as well as keyboards; while Steve pounds on the drums and percussion. Timothy does most of the lead singing, but each backs the other up when the other’s on lead.

Timothy calls Nashville home these days, and Steve is enjoying the island life in Wailuku, Hawaii (on Maui), but they haven’t forgotten where they come from: They still fine tune and crank out their songs at a Prophetstown studio Steve owns before they set out on tours throughout the year.

The Morrises have performed at venues as large as Dixon’s annual Petunia Fest this past July to smaller club gigs in Maui in January. It’s a father-son relationship that’s music to their ears, and the kind of relationship on stage that not every band shares.

“I love it,” Timothy said. “I think that, musically, we both have the same DNA, and a lot of people can’t even tell our voices apart. Since we’ve been playing together forever, I think we sing well together, and catch idiosyncrasies and little nuances in each other’s playing really well just from the chemistry of playing together for so long. All of that time pays off and goes into the music, rather than start from scratch. We can understand each other where we’re going musically.”

Prior to playing with Timothy, Steve’s best known gig, he said, was drumming for The Funnies, who performed locally for around 15 years. Steve has drummed for local bands both close to home and across the nation for nearly 40 years, and is happy to see his son shine in their act.

“For me, it’s incredible,” Steve said. “I’d say that even if he wasn’t my son — he’s the guitar player I would want to play with. His solos are great. There are bits of every guitar player that I grew up with that I liked to hear. Even if we weren’t related, I’d hire this guy. Then to have that father-son time, that I would say most don’t get to have, it’s precious to me. I’m very blessed."

The musical DNA is strong in their family. Timothy’s brother Steffen Wade and sister Faith September Morris, both of whom also are musicians, grew up around their father’s band equipment and found themselves playing a few instruments.

“I always had a studio setup at the house and they would take in everything by osmosis,” Steve said. “I never really showed them anything, they just kind of picked everything up.”

It was during Steve’s time with The Funnies when a young Timothy made his musical debut during a concert at Tampico Days, briefly relieving Dad on the drum set.

“When we would play Tampico Days, Tim would get up and play with The Funnies on drums, and that was his beginnings,” Steve said.

Both Timothy and Steve had solo careers before they teamed up in 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe. As public performances largely left the stage, they found themselves with a lot of free time, and in the studio recording. That’s when Steve came up with an idea to turn their strengths into a week moment.

“When Covid hit, Dad had the idea to do an album in one week, since there was all of this free time,” Timothy said. “I said, ‘You’re crazy! That’s never going to happen.’ We put in 12-, 15-hour days and it was hard work, but we cranked out a full album.”

The result: “Good Quaranevening,” a name inspired from a typical opening of a news broadcast. (“We were trying to figure out what to call it, and I’m like, ‘That’s stupid, let’s use that,‘” Timothy said.) The album was recorded in a garden shed at Steve’s home and released in the late spring of 2020. It features nine songs, three of which remain staples on their concert setlists.

Since the first album, the pair have released “For the Sake of Nothing” (2022) and “Lifeline” (2024), and Timothy has released three solo albums: “Last Time Till Broadway” (2020), “Can We Still Save the Music?” (2021) and “Sami” (2022).

Timothy writes most of their music, and he and Steve come up with lyrics together.

“Whenever I’m going through anything, I just want to write something,” Timothy said. “It doesn’t always correlate, but it’s more of a cathartic release. Musically, there’s always hundreds of ideas lying around and always stuff coming through my fingers. I like to be in a state of constant creation.”

While many fans hear traces of Rush, The Beatles and Styx in their music, the Morrises like to think outside the box when it comes to music (and inside the box, too, like when Timothy uses a talk box on covers like Peter Frampton’s signature song “Do You Feel Like I Do”?)

They draw their influences from a large and eclectic songbook, tapping into bands ranging from the ‘60s to the ‘90s, including artists from other genres aside rock and roll.

When it comes to describing their music, “I like that it’s hard to box us in,” Timothy said.

One of those inspirations found its way into some of the songs on “Lifeline”: the hard rock/progressive metal band King’s X. The Morrises opened for the band at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, where Timothy works, in the summer of 2023, a concert which ranks as one of the duo’s most memorable, Timothy said.

“I like that different people come up and tell us completely different things about who we sound like and what type of band we are. We get a lot of ‘90s comments, which is funny because a lot of our influences probably influenced those bands. It all just comes back to putting a little bit of everything into the music to the point where different people’s ears take away different things.”

Timothy’s music philosophy is to help people feel less alone, he said. In doing so, he’s developed a format for his concerts that he hopes keeps the audience’s attention: moving around throughout the stage, switching up styles between the first and second songs, and keeping that variety going throughout their show.

“I’m all over the place doing everything I can do to make sure you don’t look away from me,” Timothy said. “That’s what our show comes down to, and I think that’s key. We’re fun to watch, whether you listen to music or not. I hope they get joy out of it, whether it be from the lyrics, or taking your mind off of everything for a couple of hours with being bombarded with the world. On whatever level that I can help make somebody feel better, that’s what I want the music to do.”

This year, the band has already played in Chicago, Clinton and Maui, and they’re working on putting together another string of shows during the summer, including, stops in the Sauk Valley. Timothy and Steve also recently launched another act, Divided by 2, a tribute to U2 and Timothy has another solo album in the works, as well as another in collaboration with his sister. It’s shaping up to be a busy year, but it’s time well spent, Steve said.

“When it’s just the two of us out there — especially when we’re not playing a big show with a big sound system and stuff — you’re doing the sound, the lights, you do the [merchandise], and you drive yourselves there,” Steve said. “I wouldn’t be flying from Hawaii to play here if it wasn’t for my son. I know that time is short of being able to do this.”

Whether it’s plugging in an amp, plugging a family album, or plugging away in the studio, it’s all about making connections for Timothy and his dad — not just with each other, but with their audience.

“I don’t think there’s any better feeling than connecting with somebody through art,” Timothy said. “It’s just finding any possible road to that feeling. It’s fulfilling because that’s what we were put on this Earth to do, I truly believe that. I love connecting with people, and that’s what it’s all about. All of the challenges to get there are worth it.”

Find Timothy Morris Music on Facebook or go to timothymorrismusic.bandcamp.com for upcoming concert dates, to purchase music, or for more information about the Timothy Morris Band.