“He handed me that famous pink Strat. That riff is the first thing I played – it had that riff in it. I’m lucky to be the guy it came out for”: Mark Morton on his all-star solo album feat. Grace Bowers, Tyler Bryant and a perfect solo from Jason Isbell

With Lamb of God, Mark Morton has chugged and shredded away while running the thrash, groove and death-metal gamut. He dropped his first solo record, Anesthetic, in 2019, which was a little different in sound. But even then, influences outside of heavy metal weren’t so apparent… until now.

Morton tells Guitarist that the Southern rock and blues vibes inherent in his latest solo record, Without the Pain, have always “kind of been there” for him, adding: “I was probably tuned into this kind of music even before heavy metal.

“Lamb of God is a big band. It’s well known. I’m certainly most known for that work, and that’s awesome. I’m grateful for that and I still love doing it, but this stuff has always been there for me.”

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Without The Pain features an all-star cast of Morton’s friends, including Jason Isbell, Grace Bowers, Charlie Starr and Cody Jinks. But beyond the guest stars, Morton’s bluesy chops and soulful solos make it stick.

In fact, he enjoyed the process so much that when he’s not doing his thing with Lamb of God, he plans to lean into his roots even harder – but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still love playing heavy metal.

“For me, it’s both,” he says. “I have so much experience touring and writing and recording with Lamb of God, and that stuff certainly comes naturally, but this stuff is really how I play on my own time. That’s equally as valuable to me. I just love playing guitar, man.”

Mark Morton - "Hell & Back" feat. Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube

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Why dig into Southern rock with your new solo album, Without the Pain?

“It’s a long time coming. This album reflects the kind of music that I play at home. So, in that sense, it’s natural for me – but it is new in the sense that I’m recording and releasing this style of music. That part is fresh and new. But, stylistically, it feels like coming home.”

Did listening to Southern rock growing up shape you as a player?

“If you grew up where I grew up [Williamsburg, Virginia], this music was all around you, you know? I mean, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and all that kind of stuff was my early musical foundation.”

What makes now the right time to reveal this side of yourself?

“I put out Anesthetic a few years back, and it was closer to what we do with Lamb of God. But there were parts of that record that flirted with and pointed in this direction.

“Knowing I could record on my own, without the banner of Lamb of God, and do something outside of that, and have it exist authentically and find an audience for it, I gained confidence and independence. It allowed me to stretch out even further and that’s what you see in Without the Pain.”

What sort of rig did you put together for Without the Pain?

“We recorded the basic tracks for this record at Studio 606, the Foo Fighters’ studio out in the Valley in LA. But I live in Virginia, so I flew with a Les Paul and that one guitar is on a bunch of songs. When I got into the studio and started digging through what they had, we landed on an earlier mid-’70s Marshall with a Friedman mod.

“I borrowed an ES-335 from Gibson, and I had the Les Paul, so that was the main rig. It was the Les Paul straight into a Marshall, and for a few songs I used the 335 through a mid-’60s Fender Bassman with an EarthQuaker [Devices] Acapulco Gold [distortion] pedal. The signal path was simple and straightforward.”

What’s the story behind Hell & Back?

“That’s one of the songs I did at my house. We had the basic tracks recorded and I still had some leads left to do. It’s a stretch to call it a ‘studio’, but I have a workstation at my house and can do guitars.”

“That solo is my 1963 ES-335 plugged into some modeller. I don’t even remember which – and, honestly, I don’t even think it’s a model, I think we just plugged in direct – but that guitar sounds so good. For solos, I tend not to work stuff out; I jam until I start to feel something is happening. And that one came off pretty quick.”

Mark Morton - "The Needle And The Spoon" feat. Neil Fallon (Official Visualizer) - YouTube

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After writing and recording heavy metal solos with Lamb Of God for so long, how does shifting gears in the studio feel?

“For people who might be familiar with my work with Lamb of God, I tend to play pretty bluesy, particularly when it comes to lead stuff. Sometimes, I’ll go outside of that – I’m not the shreddiest player. But it’s metal, so sometimes I’ll work stuff up that’s shreddy. But 80 per cent of the time, even in Lamb, I just come in and jam, so it’s not all that different.”

What was it like working with Jason Isbell on Come December?

“What a thrill it was to have him on that track! Jason and I had met once, and corresponded more than a few times, but I wasn’t in the room with him when he did it.

“I hit him up to see if he would play on the track, and was really grateful – and a little bit surprised, as busy as he is – when he said he’d do it. He recorded the solo remotely and sent it to me. It’s just… obviously Jason is, well… I had no notes [laughs]. It was perfect.”

Mark Morton - Without The Pain (feat. Matt James of Blacktop Mojo) - YouTube

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You had Tyler Bryant playing on Forever In The Light, too.

“We wrote that song on the spot. I showed up at Tyler’s house and he handed me that famous pink Strat. He sat at his mixing board, I sat on a stool, and he plugged me in. I hit the guitar and the riff you hear in that song is the first thing I played. So he turned around, and was like, ‘What’s that?’

“I said, ‘I don’t know… but it’s pretty cool huh?’ He’s like, ‘Let’s get that,’ and I started building the song right away. It was literally the first thing I played when I sat down, so I think his pink guitar had that riff in it. I’m lucky to be the guy it came out for.”

How was it trading solos with Tyler Bryant?

“The solo section was fun but was quite an experience. I was definitely intimidated to cut heads with Tyler – but I will say that I’m thrilled with the result. Tyler cut his solo section on that song in about 20 minutes and I spent about two hours [laughs].”

Mark Morton - Brother ft. Cody Jinks (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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Grace Bowers plays on Dust. How did the slide and non-slide parts work out there?

“She’s phenomenal. She came in and we cut that together, but the slide stuff is me and the non-slide is her. We were on stools next to each other, going back and forth on the parts in front of the board. That was the first time we’d met, but we’d followed each other on Instagram, liking each other’s posts and saying, ‘Hey,’ that kind of thing.

“She was in town and I had a spot on the session, and we were filling out leads, so I was like, ‘Do you want to jam on this thing with me?’ She was like, ‘Hell, yeah, I’ll be there!’ She showed up and just ripped, man.

“She brought that cool early ’60s SG she was playing for a while. I think she leaves it at home now, probably smartly, because she’s touring so much. But watching Grace just blow up in front of the world and become a superstar has been super-fun. I’m so thrilled to have her energy on this record.”

Mark Morton - Dust (feat. Cody Jinks & Grace Bowers) Official Lyric Video - YouTube

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Without the Pain is home for you, but it’s a different world from Lamb of God. Is this a direction you plan to continue on?

“I think so. It’s definitely reflective of the kind of music that I like to pursue when I’m not doing metal. I don’t feel like I’ve exercised it completely, you know what I mean? I feel like I enjoyed the process and would love to do some more, and probably will at some point.”

• Without the Pain is out now via Snakefarm.
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.