It’s already been a crazy-busy 2010 for singer/songwriter Matt Morris. His debut album, When Everything Breaks Open, has been a bonafide hit (selling out on Amazon and topping charts on iTunes); he performed famously on the Hope for Haiti telethon with his pal and music mentor Justin Timberlake, and he’s been covered in mags and rags from coast to coast.

In the past week, he’s been in The Advocate, Corduroy Magazine, and he’s announced his free show at SXSW (on Saturday, March 20th). And best of all… He talked to us!

Check out this fun chat (above) wherein Matt discusses his love of The Golden Girls, RuPaul’s Drag Race, making music, upcoming collaborations and he even shares what he learned by attending a show or two at NYC’s Fashion Week. Busy, busy, busy!

NOTE: The sound in this interview is tad bit wonky at the very,very beginning. But it’s just for a second or two. Gracias.

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Matt Morris is still climbing upwards on his quest towards world domination. His duet with Justin Timberlake‘s on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the Hope for Haiti Now telethon last month is now #13 on Billboad’s Hot 100 Singles chart. And last Thursday he performed his tune “Love” to screaming mobs on Lopez Tonight (see above!), and today he’s got a gig in Kentucky with Brandi Carlile. He’s everywhere…

Matt nabs a nice self pic in NYC last month. Awwww!

I love it when good things happen to nice people. Need more Matt? Head to his Matt’s great Week in Review posts on Tumblr to watch him perform at the Gibson (as in guitars) Music Showcase. It’s sooooo nice!

You can also follow Matt on Twitter at @MattMorris, and if you’re in Denver (Matt’s hometown) you can catch him at the Bluebird Theater on February 25th. Go Matt, go!

After the jump, watch Matt perform his tune “The Un-American.” So good.

Matt Morris performs an acoustic version of “The Un-American” during a visit to MTV Studios. Watch!

Get more Matt Morris at MattMorris.net.

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How much talent can one oversized beanie hold?

Adorable musician Matt Morris has really burst on to the scene since NewNowNext interviewed him a few weeks ago down at Drom. (Bet he’ll never be confused with this Unemployed Millionaire again)

After performing “Hallelujah” with Justin Timberlake for the Hope For Haiti Now telethon, the track quickly shot to the top of the iTunes single chart, and is currently just a close second to ¢lassy ke$ha.

If you’re dying for More Morris like the rest of us, you’re in luck. MTV News just posted some amazing acoustic performances by the out singer/songwriter in their studio. I don’t know if it’s the soft focus or the falsetto but they’re making papa kind of swoony. Check out his performances of “Love” and “The Un-American” below.

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And it’s deserved. Morris has been making music since was a tween on the Mickey Mouse Club (which is how he met Timberlake), and he’s written songs for Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson (“Miss Independent”) and Christina Aguilera. His sound is somewhere between John Mayer and Jason Mraz meets Rufus Wainwright. It’s soulful, smart and hard to pin down. Bluesy, yet also intricate and melodic.

Onstage this past Tuesday night for a showcase in NYC’s East Village, he charmed the hell out of the assembled crowd with songs about broken hearts, troubled men and women, obnoxious Americans… And just with his smiling charm and gift for melody.

Morris, who’s gay and out, has gotten press from gay publications (Out Magazine included him in their recent Out 100) and mainstream outlets (lots of newspapers), and when I chatted him up after his show I had to wait for a reporter from none other than Us Weekly to finish an interview. (Move over, Jon and Kate!)

All that said, here’s my little chat with Morris, post-show. He’s soooo nice!

Onstage at Drom in NYC.

How would you describe your music?
This album is a rich, complex groups of sounds. It’s like a broad brushstroke of style. It’s not one specific thing, for one specific group of people. It’s soulful. And that soulfulness comes out in many ways. Soul, rock, RB, a couple reggae tracks… The record is filled with it, and not just from me, there are brilliant performances on the album across the board.

So you and Justin Timberlake have known each other for years, since the Mickey Mouse Club days. What’s it like working together? Can you tell me about your work relationship?
Justin and I really know each other in a unique way. We have a musical kinship that’s different than what I have with most anybody else. We don’t have to talk a whole lot; we kind of just get each other. And, um, that makes writing really easy, it makes making production choices really interesting. We enable each other to be creative in ways that really are specific to who we are as a people. And you know I think it’s made possible because of our friendship.

Your song “The Un-American”… Can you give me some background on that song?
I was in Austin. We were working on the record, staying in this little hotel and this really nice lady was working behind the counter and she wasn’t American; she was Eastern European I think. And she was getting the third degree from people staying in the hotel about the hotel not being nice enough. And “it’s so much nicer back where they’re from.”

It seemed like what was motivating the kind of cruelty in their tone was this sense of privilege, this sense of deserving of all of these things, a certain level of luxury, of amenities. And that sense of privilege was motivating them to be really cruel to this other person, so that got me thinking how much of that has to do with our own sense of who we are as a people, collectively.

Now I’m an American, and I’m not “un-American,” but I think it’s good to have a dialogue about what it means to be from the country you’re from. So that’s part of what motivated the song. I went upstairs and wrote the song in 15 minutes, and we went into the studio and cut it. It was one of the last things we did for the album.

You married your partner Sean in California when gay people could get married a couple of years back. What’s your present take on gay marriage?
My husband and I have just now stopped obsessing about everything in every state. Which isn’t to say we’re avoiding the news, but I think a part of what we do to feel ok about living in this place where there are these injustices is just to try to live a good life; to take care of each other, to be good to each other. And it hurts sometimes.

When I had to fill out a tax form recently to go play this gig, and I had to write down “single.” Because I couldn’t really put down married because it threw everything off. And it was this major conflict, and it just felt rotten. And he looked and me and said, “You know our time will come. It’s alright, you know?” And I’m grateful that there are so many people working on behalf of queer people everywhere in this country to help to move things forward and fight the injustice of all of this.

The more I think about, and the more I have discussions about all of this, the angrier I get. So I think sometimes for my own wellbeing I have to temper that and decide, because I’m not an activist, I’m a musician. But when the very nature of how you love becomes a political discussion, you have to make choices about how much you’re going to let that become a part of your life.

Matt snaps himself! Awwwwww…
Do you think being gay is an issue for a music artist anymore?
I don’t know how to answer that. I think anyone who’s gay has an issue—gay recording artists or gay construction workers or gay bishops, or gay rabbis. It’s all very conflicting and frustrating. I think it’s more useful to look at how everyone is affected. I work in the entertainment industry, so professionally I have it a lot easier than some people who work in more conservative fields or some people who are dealing with much more difficult situations any day they want to work.

OK, tell me three random things about you.
1) Ever since I started to wear wool socks, I can’t wear cotton.
2) I love shoes, it’s a problem. We’re dealing with it…

That can relate back to the sock issue too.
There’s a feet thing going on here and I don’t want that to mean any more than it does on the surface. And… 3) I actually really like a calm and orderly life. And in the midst of all these big, explosive changes happening with my career, I want to make sure that that is safeguarded and taken care of.

Hot wings!!!
Which is your favorite tattoo?
I like my chest piece. It’s a sacred heart. It has a large wingspan. The heart’s in the center of the chest, and the wings stretch across to the shoulder blades. It was drawn on me by an artist, Lee Ball, who passed away last year. He was a brilliant Denver artist, and he actually inspired me to go ahead and get color work done; it was all black and gray before him.

A couple more things, what was the last movie that made you cry?
I cried in Avatar. Is that gay to say? I think it’s a brilliant movie, I really love it. It’s aesthetically brilliant. It had me as a story, and there were several moments looking at these creatures on the screen, and I cried, I was really moved emotionally, and not just by the storyline, but by how beautiful it was.

Photo by Drew Jarrett
Is the beard here to stay? Is it written into your contract at this point?
The beard’s here because I like it, I think the beard is here to stay. I might do some fun things with it as time goes on.

A little embellishment maybe?
A little, maybe. Maybe some glitter.

Real quick: Tell me about your dogs.
Three dogs; all mutts. A big black one, a medium-sized yellow one, and a little black one. The big one we think has a little wolf in him. We think he’s a timber wolf, but we’re not sure. They’re Max, Rupert, and Elliot, from big, middle, to little.

Final question: Do you like your job and if so, why?
Yes, I love my job. I love my job because of what just happened here at this show. I’m able to go up for an hour and do the thing I love to do the most. And it’s a lot of work to make these hours happen. And sometimes it’s a challenge to remember the feeling of that, when you’re dealing with all the work. And I imagine it’s like that for a lot of people.

I live in Denver, but I’m in New York right now; I’m here for a period of time. So traveling away from home, and our dogs, when normal things are far away, that’s hard to juggle and balance sometimes. But I love that I get to do this. I’m really grateful for it.

For more Matt Morris, head to http://www.mattmorris.net/.

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