Tucson native Morales snags Grammy buzz for new album

Tucson-born, Texas-based singer-songwriter Lisa Morales released her third solo album in late August.

On Thursday, Oct. 13, she found out that her album, “She Ought to be King,” made it onto the first ballot for the 2023 Grammys.

The album, which came out on Aug. 26, garnered nine nominations on the first round Grammy ballot that was released Oct. 13. The nominees who survive the first round votes will vie for the final nominations, which will be announced Nov. 15. The Grammys will be presented Feb. 5.

“I'm very excited,” said Morales, who is playing an album release concert on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Hotel Congress Plaza, 311 E. Congress St.

It’s the first time Morales, who grew up in Tucson, has been in the conversation for a Grammy as a solo artist, although she and her late sister Roberta had flirted with a Grammy nomination for their Sisters Morales duo.

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Morales recorded “She Ought to be King” last February at the famed Sonic Ranch Recording Studio in Tornillo, Texas, outside El Paso. It was right around the time that a winter storm put Texas into deep freeze, knocking out most of the state’s power grid and leaving residents in the dark and cold.

The El Paso area, on a different power grid, maintained power but the storm grounded Morales at the studio with several other artists including singer-keyboardist Gregg Roli and David Garza, who produced Morales's album. Garza lit a bonfire outside the studio and kept it stoked throughout the 10 days they were at the ranch.

Desperate situations can sometimes lead to interesting opportunities, like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with the man who founded the legendary bands Santana and Journey. While the storm continued outside, inside the studio Roli played organ and sang backup for Morales on the album's lead-off single “Freedom.”

Other collaborators on the 12-track record include Rodney Crowell (“Flyin’ And Cryin’”), Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, bass player Tim Lefebvre, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Rachel Eckroth, percussionist Elizabeth Goodfellow, jazz trumpeter Ephraim Owens and Ozomatli’s Raul Pacheco.

Saturday's concert with Morales’ band starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $28.33 or $39.14 for VIP through hotelcongress.com.