GARY MORRIS: Talkin’ About a Real Revolution

Country-Western singer and Broadway musical star Gary Morris travels to four European republics, which until recently existed under communist rule, in the four-part “Somebody Lives There.” The series premieres Tuesday on cable’s The Nashville Network.

In Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Russia, Morris visits top performers who provide insight into how they and their countrymen struggled to achieve freedom. Morris taped the specials in 1December, 1990, and October, 1991.

Morris began his career singing in Denver nightclubs and writing jingles for Coors and Frontier Airlines. After performing at Jimmy Carter’s presidential inauguration, Morris was signed to his first recording contract. His song, “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” was voted song of the year by the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Assn., and later was a big hit for Bette Midler.

Morris also has appeared on Broadway and at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre as Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.”

Morris talked about “Somebody Lives There” with TV Times Staff Writer Susan King.

Did you bring the idea of “Somebody Lives There” to The Nashville Network?

It was my idea. I said, “The Iron Curtain doesn’t exist anymore except in our minds. Let’s humanize these places.” I wanted to see what, if any, effects communism has had on its artistry and what role music played in the history of these countries.

It was an an incredible experience. In Estonia alone they attribute much of their breakaway from Russia to what they call a “musical revolution,” much as what we had here in the ‘60s with the Dylans and Baezes and those people. (Americans then) could protest in any form we wanted to. In Estonia, of course, it was under communism and there was no protesting the state. They did it with music. The beginning of the end of Soviet control over Estonia began in 1988 with an event called the Freedom Festival. They had over 400,000 people in a giant stadium, singing these freedom songs and waving the flag, which had not stood over Estonia in 50 years.

I got to talk with artists in each country about the effects of what communism did to them and their art.

What were some of the effects?

They were not allowed to move on stage. A rock ‘n’ roller could stand up and sing his songs, but he couldn’t dance, he couldn’t entertain people. The main thing was ... all of their lyrics had to be approved by the Communist Party. Things I find astonishing along those lines were all brought to light by artists.

(The singers) are not motivated by money. Artists could sell 20 million records there and for that 20 million they received the equivalent of $100. We are not talking about rich people. We are talking about people who are just getting by and very proud people and proud of their work. They do art for the sake of art, which is certainly a dead issue in America.

Did you run into difficulties with the governments while shooting the special?

The most interesting thing that happened in the Soviet Union was right outside of Red Square. The Soviets had no idea what I was up to. We had approval but they thought it was a film about Moscow, so they gave me a cameraman and a crew.

Right outside of Red Square was really a kind of a tent-box city of homeless people. I went in there with a cameraman and interviewed some of these people. The cameraman was really leery of going over and shooting this because he didn’t know what we were doing with it. But he did it anyway. That would have been about the 21st of December--a year ago--and on the 26th of December, the bulldozers came in and bulldozed down that city.

Did your plans for the series change once?

We had scripted what we hoped to get done, but it went out the window as soon as we arrived. The language barrier dictated the script go away. It was very much in the moment, questions and answers that were not scripted.

What did you learn from doing “Somebody Lives There”?

(About) the high cost of freedom. Now I have witnessed firsthand the effects of the government meddling in private lives and business and art.

I look at the situation in America here today. It is frightening. There is “art” I wouldn’t want my children or grandchildren at any point in time to be exposed to specifically at a young age. But I have seen what happens when a government takes over and decides what can be said and what can be viewed and the crippling effects it has on art and the crippling effects that it has on human beings.

It is a frightening notion that today we lean toward some way, even if in a puritanical view, that we should not allow people to be artists and to reflect life the way they see it or wish it to be.

I have a newfound appreciation for freedom and that very notion will probably make me a more political type person, speaking more for freedom of interpretation in art.

“Somebody Lives There” looks at Estonia on Tuesday, Hungary on Wednesday, Slovakia on Thursday and Russia on Friday, at 7 and 10 p.m. on The Nashville Network.