Morning Star

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Jesse D. Vernon-Guitars & Vocals
Jim Barr-Bass
Ian Matthews-Drums
Kevin Figues-Alto, Baritone Sax & Flute
Peter Judge-Trumpet
Peter Wilk-Accordion
Paula James-Cello

'My Place In The Dust'- CD Album
Released 15th Oct 2001 - SASR#5
'The Hospital Radio Request List Vol 2' Compilation CD
Released 1st June 2004 - SASR#12

Morning Star is the alias of Jesse Vernon, a Bristol based musician. Jesse writes, sings and arranges all of the songs for Morning Star. Jesse’s past bands have included The Moonflowers and Praise Space Electric but with Morning Star the tone has changed. With a debut album already under his belt (‘Morning Star’, Swarf Finger Records 1999) ‘My Place in the Dust’ revealed a new facet of the Bristol scene and brings Jesse into the ranks of the great songwriters. Morning Star creates a universe of ample writing and flamboyant rhythms, with a penchant for mixing musical genres, oscillating naturally between folk, blues and latin beats, without losing sight of the pop song. For the album Jesse again enlisted the help of previous collaborators including Jim Barr (Portishead) and John Parish (PJ Harvey, The Eels, Sparklehorse).

The Morning Star band often perform as the Morning Star Small Orchestra comprising of twenty plus members including a violin quartet, accordion, flugelhorn, clarinet, saxophone, backing singers as well us the usual line-up of bass, drums and guitar. Recently Jesse has constructed a smaller bands, with line-ups featuring Patrick Duff (Strangelove), members of Mooz and other Bristol musicians, but he is equally contented performing alone with just his guitar for backing.

Jesse also plays guitar in The Liftmen (Twisted Nerve), provides instrumentation in John Parish’s band and co-ordinates a bi-monthly event in Bristol called ‘The Greatness of The Magnificence’. He is also one-half of The Invisible Pair of Hands, who are also working on new material.

'The Opposite is True', Morning Star's third album is due for release in 2004 on the Microbe label.