A cappella band Straight No Chaser’s Steve Morgan talks music, memories, and traveling the Holiday Road

Nearly three decades after a group of Indiana University students first sang “for food and girls,” Straight No Chaser co-founder Steve Morgan still finds fresh magic in the music. From arranging unexpected pop mashups to sharing the stage at iconic venues like Red Rocks and the Hollywood Bowl, he says the group’s mission remains simple: bring audiences “escapist joy.” As they gear up for their festive Holiday Road tour, he reflects on the humor, heart, and harmony that keep the celebrated vocal ensemble—and its fans—coming back year after year.

Steve Morgan provides the deep foundation that lets the group’s intricate harmonies soar. Since joining the ensemble, Steve has helped shape a signature sound that blends pop hits, classic standards, and unexpected mashups—always served with a wink and the group’s trademark sense of fun. From sold-out tours to viral videos, Straight No Chaser continues to prove that pure voices can fill arenas and captivate millions, and Steve’s steady groove is a big reason why.

We had the chance to chat with Steve about the new tour, holiday traditions and lots more in our exclusive interview.

 What first drew you to acapella singing, and how did you find your way into Straight No Chaser?

So, I was part of the group that started Straight No Chaser back in 1996 at IU. At the time, we were all members of the Singing Hoosiers, which was a show choir of about 120 guys and girls that would do on-campus performances. We’d do some touring around Indiana every once in a while, go to alumni things in Florida and whatnot, and we decided, hey, what if we break out and do some acapella music kind of in the tradition of some of the East Coast universities, like the Yale Whiffenpoofs and some of those storied acapella groups?

And yeah, we’d just go sing for food and girls. What higher calling could college kids have? A few of us had sung acapella things, as part of choirs. I don’t think many of us had really been in acapella groups before that – aside from just, you know, again, select songs from things in high school. It was a somewhat new experience for many of us but we just had a great time with it. We were certainly serious about the music but we weren’t serious about ourselves and that’s kind of continued on to this day.

The group’s arrangements of songs often surprise your listeners. How do you decide what songs to cover or mashup?

A lot of it is just long conversations. People have conversations on the road and are like, “Hey, what about this?” or just listening sessions after a show on the bus together, listening to music, like, “Oh yeah, what about this?” We’ve put some of those things together that way and other times it’s just a guy who’s sitting there going, “I’m passionate about this. I want to arrange this.” And that’s kind of what it has to be because if you’re doing an arrangement, you’re probably going to live with it for anywhere from 10 to 40 hours, getting everything into its final shape. So, you have to enjoy it or else you’ll never see the ending of it.

Following up on that, what is one of the songs that you were passionate about performing or, or, you know, mashing up into a performance?

Gosh, I’ve got a lot of them that have been left on the cutting room floor, but this past summer I did an arrangement of “What’s Up?”, the 4 Non Blondes song and had everybody sing along. It was a fun moment because everybody knows the chant, “Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah.”  It’s kind of a thing of when you get everybody singing along and clapping and just putting a smile on their face, that’s what our show’s about. It’s about escapist joy. I always say we’re at our best when we’re making people either laugh or cry. So, this is one where we’re making everybody laugh, put a smile on their face, sing along and have a good time.

Speaking of touring, what’s the most memorable moment you’ve had on the road?

Woo. That’s a tough one. Gosh, I mean, over the years we’ve had the opportunity to play places like the Hollywood Bowl on a bill with Weird Al Yankovic, we’ve had the opportunity to play Red Rocks. I mean, I don’t know. Some of them are probably not even things that we’ve done on stage, you know, just getting to have dinner together at a random restaurant in Warsaw. We performed in this tiny room with a very low ceiling room, and everybody got up and was dancing the whole time. We’re like, okay, this is different and we love it. I don’t know how you guys know about us, but we’re glad you’re here. So, some of them are just the memorable venues such as Red Rock – which is such an iconic place – down to a show where we probably had less than 400 people there. Those random, different ones stick in their mind for very different reasons, but it’s all about the journey.

How do you keep your performances fresh when you’re singing a lot of the same fan favorites every night?

I think ultimately it comes down to respect for the crowd. There’s somebody in the crowd who’s hearing us sing “12 Days of Christmas” for the first time, so we have to find ways to keep it fresh for ourselves, but that’s the discipline of performing, you know? And, so I think ultimately we put together a show that we love to do each and every night – and then try to make sure that the audience is having as much fun as we are.

You’re going to soon be launching the Holiday Road tour. What excites you the most about bringing this show to new audiences?

We’re still in that phase finishing up music, kicking around songs. We’ve got about two or three more weeks to keep arranging, so we’re getting ready. Certainly, all the things from our Holiday Road CD will be on there, which we’re super proud of. We’ve got some originals. We’ve got our takes on classics, some really different takes on some songs that I think are going to really make people say, “Wow, I’ve never even thought of it that way.” And then now we’re getting into that same phase with the non-holiday songs. The arrangements are flying around and we get to bring back some of our favorite songs from the past that people have loved and said, “It’s time. You guys haven’t done this in so long.” We’ve got stuff from everything from the sixties up until today, so we’ve got something for all the different generations and putting all of those puzzle pieces together, it’s always fun to watch them slot in.

What makes performing during the holiday season special for you personally?

Well, certainly the holidays are synonymous with family – it’s not with my own family, but we’ve kind of made our own little touring family over the years and this is what we do. We go out and we see three or even four generations of a family come to see our show together and one of the things we hear is there are no other shows that are like this, that we can all come and have a good time together. And so. When we come through and we see little kids with their parents and grandparents, that means the world to us. Seeing them, putting a smile on all their faces, having something that they can enjoy for that evening, that’s what it’s all about for us.

How do you balance classic holiday songs with your new material so that your set list during your tour feels like both nostalgic and fresh?

I mean, that’s always the secret sauce. When we start, one guy will kind of set up like, here’s what I’m thinking for a set list, and then we all weigh in. Ultimately, there’s no ego to it. We’re all rowing in the same direction, so, it’s just making sure that we have enough up-tempo songs, enough of the traditional, enough of a choral sound…making sure that there’s something from every different aspect of what we do to show our full range, but then also making sure that there’s some comedy to it. There’s got to be some humor to keep it light for us as well. It’s kind of like painting with all the different colors of the palette.

The band has been around for more than two decades. How does it feel to be part of a group with such a long and celebrated history?

Well, when you say it like that, old! But no, you know, when we started this thing back in 96, all we wanted was for it to be a legacy group at IU – which it continues to be, and it’ll turn 30 next year, which is incredible. So, you know, we were playing with house money once we got into the professional aspect of it. But we love it. It’s kind of become so ingrained in us.

We got back together as a professional group in 2008, so it’s been 17 years of traveling the country and the world now. It’s incredible the relationships we’ve made with within the group and with our fans. There are so many of them that we keep tabs on with social media. And so, you know, after the show seeing them in the signing line, there’s always hugs and catching up and it’s just an incredible community that’s been created around the whole thing.

How has being part of the group shaped you personally as a musician and a person?

That’s a great question. I think because what we do at the end of the day is not that important in the grand scheme of things. I think it lets me see life probably on a happier note. You know, I get to live out my dreams and be on the road with my friends. We appreciate how unique it is and I think it’s made me more optimistic. It’s made me appreciate all the little things that have gone into to making, making this possible.

You know, our job is to provide escapist joy for two hours and I take that pretty seriously. Whatever’s going on in your life, for two hours, we’re going to put a smile on your face – and I think having this be my profession has allowed me to carry that off-stage as well.

What are your favorite personal holiday traditions?

Oh, man. Well, so many of them have now become wrapped up on a tour bus. We decorate the tour bus and put the lights up each year just to give our own sense of the spirit of the season, but then just getting home. I mean, we’ll take three days for ourselves for Christmas, so it’s a very condensed time. We get home on Christmas Eve with the family, always go to church and have dinner at my in-laws. All of those traditions are very sacred with me and for my kids and wife. It’s another one of those things where it’s kind of made me appreciate it more because it is so condensed that I know I’ve got to just soak it in real, real fast and with a big sponge so I can hold onto it as much as I can.

Now lastly, if you could describe the Holiday Road tour experience in three words, what three words would you want to use?

Okay let’s go with fun…Oh, that kind of sucks. This is a tough one, as you can tell. I’m not normally very succinct. So, let’s go with joy, smiles and tradition.

Get tickets to Straight No Chaser’s Holiday Road tour and keep up with the band on their website. Follow Steve on Instagram.