This album is awesome.  Robert Morgan Fisher weaves a tapestry of storytelling and song.  The songs on this album are compelling and gripping.  They envelop the listener in a warm blanket of mystery, intrigue and lore. 

 Fisher revives and perfects the lost art of yarn spinning.  These songs are about everything from the life of a hobo to the chilling secret life of a vigilante hooker.  It's like curling up with a favorite book which had it's own soundtrack. 

  The pictures painted by these songs are vivid and unforgtable.  This album leaves me wanting more.  The images are haunting and the music is hypnotic.  


My favorite song on this album is the creepy and endearing story of Hobo Jerry. The Neo-narative style of Americana, folk music is engaging and delightful. This allbum is a must have for anyone who loves music and the stories which create it.
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In Robert Morgan Fisher’s Built me a Greenhouse one is taken on a day in a life journey, from a reveille sunrise, in “Wake Up,” to a somber sunset retrospective in “Bunch of Damn Songwriters.” Packaged in between are some of the most ingenious and haunting songs that anyone could ever hope to come across, even in the course of a very long search for the very best.

Probably the most common attribute of a great album is the presence of more than one great song amidst a collection of otherwise journeyman tunes. Not so here. In this collection—I use this word in the same sense that one would say, “The Met has a great collection of American paintings and sculpture,”—there are at least half a dozen songs that easily could have been the title song and each will be learned and remembered by untold numbers of would be and proud to be singers and songwriters hereafter. 

In my abundant enthusiasm I originally wrote a completed “liner notes” review of this CD, covering each song in some detail, but I also noticed that reviews posted on this site are a whole lot shorter—so, here are my reactions to just a few of the cuts from this really great breakthrough compilation:

“Greenhouse” tells the story of a Civil War farmer turned terrified soldier turned battlefield photographer. Fisher’s special gift is in his capacity to tell a story like the best of the raconteurs, bringing his character through the first day’s blood all the way to General Grant’s indifferent dismissal of his horrific evidence, then resolving the tale after a long trek home, finally framing his work in the form of a greenhouse where one hopes, new life will eventually spring.

 “Father Was a Warrior,” is one of several best songs on this CD—an homage to Fisher’s dad, from whom, “each talent was an arsenal, each family was a nation, every shame a court-martial, every hug a commendation…” It’s a reverent song of reconciliation, loving in an uncompromisingly truthful manner, and embellished by some fine Indian flute work by David Arkenstone. 

The last two songs, “Barbara’s Guitar” and “Buncha Damn Songwriters” are, again, two of my favorite songs from this collection. Written for a loved aunt who has gone, her guitar, a late ‘70’s Takamine F-456S, was bequeathed to the Fishers. It’s a special guitar and a very special song. The final song places Fisher in that realm where the likes of Don MacLean et al dwell—a musical land where self awareness and a sense of ones place in the fabric of cultural reality are revealed.
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Holds up to repeated listening. Catchy melody and lyrics, yet each replay reveals more and more between the lines. Several of the songs are absolute classics, destined to be played around campfires a hundred years from now. Uniquely entertaining and star-studded supporting crew of musicians. In a business filled with navel-gazers and poseurs, Robert Morgan Fisher is that rare combination of poet and storyteller. Plus, he can sing and play his ass off on the guitar. Major labels take note. This guy is a genius and a star. Unbelievable.
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Fisher's musicianship and song-smithing is at a talent level almost never seen.  His narratives come from such deep, layered humanity and yet remain playful and, well, fun.  I've absolutely melted this CD in my player, as much as I've played it.  I've listened to a million new artists, and Fisher floats on top of the cream.  Unless your tastes are limited to punk, rap or hard rock, it's impossible not to enjoy this work of musical art.  Get it now!  You'll be humming the tunes long after your walked away from your stereo.
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