This Month’s Featured Article

For Brandon Morrison – who shared this truth with me as we talked about how he came from growing up in Columbia County to going on tour with the multiple Grammy-award winning artist Sam Smith – it may be wild, but it’s clearly wonderful.

Brandon grew up in Philmont, NY, and graduated from Taconic Hills in 2006. He remembers the influence of music in his life from early on. His maternal grandmother was a classical pianist and gave him piano lessons. “My dad had a big record collection,” he recalls, “and he often played them at breakfast time. It’s how I fell in love with the Beatles.”

In addition to the piano, Brandon played the saxophone in the school band, and when his younger brother, Tim, got a drum set, he got a guitar. They started playing together, and as Brandon realized he gravitated to playing on the low strings, he figured he should play bass. It’s the instrument he’s best known for today.

Musical roots

“Music became a deep, deep passion for me as I was growing up,” he says. “I wanted to play rock and roll.” He watched lots of documentaries about music and musicians, studying how and why they did things. His music teacher at Taconic Hills, Robert (Bob) Bates, regularly performed “unplugged” shows for students. He invited Brandon and Tim to join him, and Brandon was bit hard by the performance bug.

“Through middle school and into high school,” Brandon says, “my brother, Scott Watson, and I played in a band doing gigs at parties and even bars. Our parents would take the money at the door for us,” he says laughing. 

When he graduated from the College of St. Rose, he landed a gig as a musician on a cruise ship for six months. He appreciated it but realized he didn’t want that lifestyle, and he returned to Columbia County. He lived in Hudson and started to play with musicians there. “They are now some of my closest friends,” he says.

Lee Falco is one of them. Lee’s father, Tony, founded and owned The Falcon in Marlboro, NY, a venue notorious for its line-up of super-talented musicians of all genres. “Tony was a beautiful man,” Brandon recalls, “like a dad to me. He exuded a love for people and music.” A rehearsal space there morphed into a recording studio now called The Building. That’s where Brandon frequently found himself playing and recording with Lee and Will Bryant. The three of them run the studio today. 

Making music

The guys formed a band called The Package – “because, well,” Brandon says, “we came as a package.” They all played instruments. They all sang. They all wrote music. Local managers encouraged them to change the name, and they settled on The Restless Age. “Lee came up with it,” Brandon says. “It’s from the song Life is a Carnival by The Band. We liked the name, and it wasn’t taken.”

The Restless Age played all over, including in the UK and Australia. In 2024, they wrote and recorded five original songs for a Korean TV show soundtrack titled, A Midnight Romance in Hagwon. They’re currently writing and recording more music for another Korean TV show. (Follow The Restless Age on social media to learn where they’re playing next.) 

Home in the Hudson Valley, Brandon says, “This area is a deep well for musicians.” One of them is Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, who lives in Woodstock, NY. He saw Brandon playing with Will, Lee, Connor Kennedy and Zach Djanikain and, needing band members to go back on tour, reached out to them to consider joining him. “We did a jam session/test run in Levon Helms studio,” Brandon says, to see if things clicked. They did, and Brandon dove into “the deep and complex music of Steely Dan. I learned so much from Donald,” he says, adding, “there’s so much nuance in his music and his art. It was an amazing experience.” Brandon, Will, Lee, Connor and Zach were part of the Donald Fagen and the Nightflyers Tour in 2017.

“The music business is very much word of mouth,” Brandon shares. “I always thought I’d have to move to New York City, Los Angeles, or Nashville to make it as a musician, but it has happened for me in the Hudson Valley. My career blossomed here,” he says. 

In an interview with Billboard Magazine, Fagen said of Brandon and the others, “They have a real sense of tradition and soul. … We all see music in a similar way, and that’s the main thing that matters.” 

Enter Sam Smith

Should you not know who Sam Smith is, they’re a Grammy-, Oscar-, and Golden Globe-winning singer-songwriter from the UK who, as summarized on the site samsmithtour.org, “has become one of the defining voices of modern soulpop, blending gospel-rooted vocals, sleek electronic textures, and confessional lyricism. Since breaking through with Stay With Me, they have delivered global hits like I’m Not the Only One, Too Good at Goodbyes, Dancing With a Stranger, How Do You Sleep?, and the chart-topping Unholy, all unified by rich melodies, towering choruses, and an unmistakable falsetto. Their catalog shifts gracefully between intimate torch songs and club-ready anthems, making every concert feel both cathartic and celebratory.”

In a hybrid word-of-mouth/this-is-a-test scenario, the music director for Sam Smith was gathering recommendations for musicians to go on tour with them. Lee Falco recommended Brandon and Connor Kennedy. “I got called to audition in New York City,” Brandon says. “I didn’t know what to think; it was the first time for me doing it that way.” 

He went. He played. He waited.

“Five days later I got the okay,” he says. “I didn’t know if Lee or Connor would be chosen, and that was weird,” he says, adding quickly with clear pleasure, “Turns out we were all picked at the same time.” 

That was in the fall of 2025. Smith would be doing a residency of shows at the Warsaw in Brooklyn between mid-October and late December 2025, and from there the tour was going to the Castro in San Francisco for another residency in February and March of 2026. Rehearsals started right away.

“What was most surprising,” Brandon says when asked about this experience, “was how everyone that was part of the tour felt like a family. It was a high-profile situation, but we were so welcomed, seen, and valued. In the first few days of rehearsals it felt like we’d known everyone for years. We were all allowed to be ourselves,” he shares, “and to be creative with respect to Sam’s music. They’re a brilliant singer and songwriter, and it’s been great,” Brandon says with obvious humility and pride.

“Brooklyn was intimate and special. You could connect with the fans. The Castro was recently renovated. A wonderful space. Sam started the shows there with their song Lay Me Down. What an incredible voice.”

If you’re like me and you’re not a musician but you’re an enthusiastic and often star-struck fan, do you wonder what that life is like? I had to ask Brandon.

Show after show

“It’s a beautiful, beautiful life,” he says, “and it can look easy, but it’s hard work. You have to keep yourself healthy. Get sleep. Eat well. Every nuance of a performance has a purpose, and when you’re performing for an audience,” he continues, “there’s a mutual exchange of energy that makes every night unique and accentuates the purpose.”

Brandon appreciates that the shows with Sam Smith were both residencies so they didn’t have to continuously travel while on tour. “I could even come home from the shows in Brooklyn,” he says. 

Home is where the heart is

Home for Brandon is now Kingston. He lives there with Sarah, “an incredible artist,” he gushes, and their four-legged family, Cash (a dog) and Penny (a cat). Brandon and Sarah were married in 2025. As for his childhood home? “My parents, Gary and Ellen, were incredible,” he says, “a great support. As you grow up,” he adds, “you feel you want to move, and that happened for me. But I realize now how beautiful Philmont and Columbia County are. I swam in lakes and ponds and creeks. …” He pauses to remember. “Every experience there has led to today.”

What does he do when he’s not making music?

“I like to garden,” he says, “and I love fishing. I used to go with my dad.” Brandon worked at B&G Wines in Hillsdale once upon a time, and he and Sarah enjoy going out for nice dinners. “There’s no lack of great restaurants in the Hudson Valley,” he says. (True!) 

And what does he like to listen to? This might be the toughest question he’s been asked, and he takes some time to answer. “I love old-school music,” he says. “Jackson Brown, ELO, Wings & Paul McCartney, Supertramp … and blues and R&B,” he adds, “Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Freddie King, the Allman Brothers, Cream.” The bands roll off his tongue. “Dawes, an American folk-rock band,” he says, “and The Lemon Twigs from Long Island. They have a sound like if the Beatles and Rundgren had a baby,” he laughs. 

Does he have a favorite Steely Dan song? “Doctor Wu,” he says fairly quickly. A favorite Beatles song? This one takes a bit longer, but he finally says, “In My Life, which I sang at my high school graduation.” 

How about a Sam Smith favorite? “Oh,” he muses, “they’re all classic. The song Him on their second record is beautiful and powerful. It’s so easy to be inspired and moved by their music.” He’ll be accompanying Smith on the next part of their tour in Mexico City in August.

During COVID, people were putting together playlists that represented who they were, just in case. I asked Brandon if he had a playlist that reflected who he is as a musician, an artist, a husband, a man of today’s Hudson Valley. He gave it some thought and put one together. Here it is:

For No One, The Beatles. Better Days, Graham Nash. Telephone Line, ELO. A Tear Fell, Ray Charles. Late for the Sky, Jackson Browne. Long Distance Love, Little Feat. Tales of Brave Ulysses, Cream. Magnolia, J.J. Cale. How Lucky Am I?, The Lemon Twigs. Lighthouse Keeper, Sam Smith. You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice, The Lovin’ Spoonful. Time Can’t Go Back Now, The Restless Age. The Best Of Everything (Alternate Version), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This Will Be Our Year, The Zombies. That Western Skyline, Dawes. Pale Shelter, Tears For Fears. I’ll Play The Blues For You, Albert King. Hold Me, Fleetwood Mac. Doctor Wu, Steely Dan. I’ll Remember You, Bob Dylan. •

Go to YouTube to search for concert clips from Sam Smith’s performances in Brooklyn and San Francisco. Learn more about Brandon on his website, brandon-morrison.com. Follow Brandon and The Restless Age on social media or – better yet – get a taste of his wild life by going to see them in concert right here in the Hudson Valley.