As with Quantum Leap's
Mel Tillis Live,
Gail Davies Greatest Hits, and
Lee Greenwood Live the material here appears to have been filmed at Orlando, FL's Cheyenne Saloon and Opera House, which hosted a number of country acts for The Nashville Network's Church Street Station program. Unlike those three DVDs, the announcer here is initially absent, as is the usual "Church Street Station" logo and other identifying marks. What this disc does have in common with one of the aforementioned collections is
Denise Price and the duo of
Jimmy Price and
Cliff Downs (aka
Downs & Price) performing smack-dab in the middle of this concert, as they do on
Gail Davies Greatest Hits. The music is fine and
Morris is in his usual rich, bellowing voice, singing in a shirt that needs pressing...or how about a wardrobe change after "The Love She Found in Me," as he's pretty soaked in sweat by this point.
Gary Morris doesn't move around much, but he can get somewhat chatty mentioning Orlando before going in to an original, "No Place to Hide," which isn't even listed on the packaging's "Featured Tracks" section. "Headed for a Heartache," from his 1981 self-titled album, sounds great augmented by this proficient backing band, the singer in suit jacket and thoroughly engaging, though still pretty stationary.
Denise Price comes in eighteen and a half minutes into the set with a sassy "Can't Even Get the Blues," toning it down for an authentic and quite elegant rendition of
Anne Murray's "Could I Have This Dance?"
Downs & Price quickly step in with a neo-skiffle "Broken Lady" before the tape abruptly switches to "Velvet Chains," one of the four titles from
Gary Morris' blockbuster 1983 album
Why Lady Why. The tracking is all out of order, so consider the presentation a potluck special. There's a terrific version of "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry" following a monologue where he tells of how he couldn't stand country music originally, his mom & dad playing
Hank Williams and other country music legends night after night in their home.
Dave Loggins' "Mama You Can't Give Me No Whippin' "closes out the first 37:22 of this presentation, followed by an almost-five-minute "Wind Beneath My Wings" which they've put on a separate track. When the producers of
Gary Morris Live resort to lifting the content for the back cover straight from the Allmusic biography written by James Manheim without giving credit to the author, you know you are in for a DVD thin on content. They actually use the entire Allmusic biography inside the disc. It would be nice to credit the hard-working author, Manheim, y'know? And if you take the time to answer the 20 questions regarding who sang which country hit, you get a bonus track that is not credited. It turns out to be the group
Atlanta singing a medley of their big hit "Sweet Country Music" combined with the
Johnny Cash chestnut "Ring of Fire." The result? Good music haphazardly tossed on to a disc without much effort or care from the executive producers. A little more respect for the artist and the consumer is in order from Quantum Leap.