Neal Morse Sola Gratia

"I think Sola Gratia is as good as anything I’ve ever done." That’s a bold claim by any musician, but it’s an extraordinary one from a singer-songwriter-all-round-musician of the calibre (and extensive back catalog) of Neal Morse, whose reputation as one of the progressive rock world’s most talented and prolific current artists is unparalleled. Like much of Neal’s music, Sola Gratia originated from a seed planted in his mind, followed much later by a whirlwind of inspiration - and, this time, a little solar power: "A couple of people had suggested to me that I should do a prog concept album based on the apostle Paul, but it wasn’t until I went on a cruise to Australia and New Zealand in January 2020 that I started waking up with a lot of music, and would go up on deck with my keyboard to work on it as the sun came up…

Neal Morse: "I'm so pleased to announce my new solo prog concept album Sola Gratia! The album quickly came together at the beginning of this year and I've been fortunate to be able to work remotely with my dear friends and longtime collaborators Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gillette, Bill Hubauer and Gideon Klein on this project. The title Sola Gratia of course has echoes of my 2007 album Sola Scriptura, about the life of Martin Luther, but was in fact originally the result of a simple misunderstanding between me and my wife Cherie. I was talking to Cherie about debuting this new piece at Morsefest 2020 and she said she thought it would be good for me to do a solo album. However, I thought she said Sola album and - because some of the new ideas involved Paul's aggressive pursuit of the early Christians - I could see a link to some of the themes of persecution in Sola Scriptura."

The live album So Many Roads: Live in Europe was released in November 2009 by Neal Morse. It was recorded between October 23 and October 31 2008, in Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. This is the quintessential Live 3 CD Box Set from Neal Morse! Recorded at some of the best venues in Europe, this contains breathtaking performances handpicked by Neal Morse from a series of concerts with his critically acclaimed European band.

This is the second album from Neal Morse since he left Spock's Beard. Having chosen the lonesome path of artistic expression, this charismatic and famed figure in the field of Progressive Rock proves that there can be life after the band, which consolidated him as a musical personality and is here to deliver his 2nd very personal child after his departure from the Beards very soon after the successful Testimony (2003). The truth is that, musically Neal Morse's solo project isn't far differentiated by his former band. Prog Rock was always the case, and still is but this time the artist gives a greater depth in his music and does not totally converse with the direct and cheerful melodies as he once did. Having upon it the stamp of the grandeur and complexity of the lengthy compositions hailing from the 70's, Neil Morse's music borrows elements from bands like Queen, Flower Kings, Rush, Pink Floyd…

Morsefest 2020 was an event that I’m still amazed actually happened! For a time, the pandemic meant that having a Morsefest was going to be out of the question. However as restrictions started to ease, we began investigating whether we could run Morsefest as a live stream with perhaps a very small crowd. Slowly the pieces came together for two nights: an evening where we visited the very best songs from the Cover To Cover albums, followed by a night that focused on my new Sola Gratia album. With a small group of massively supportive fans and helpers gathered we made Morsefest history! People tuned in from all over the world and even had Zoom Morsefest parties!