Marshall Crenshaw, Jon Herrington, Stewart Lerman, Willie Nile, Brad Roberts, Suzzy Roche, Lucy Wainwright Roche and Loudon Wainright III are among the artists who will pay tribute to singer/songwriter Rob Morsberger in Westchester County, N.Y. on August 15. The two-part celebration will kick off at Croton-on-Hudson, NY’s Croton Point Park at 2 PM and move to Pleasantville, NY’s Jacob Burns Film Center at 7:30pm. The Jacob Burns part of celebration will feature a preview of filmmaker Dave Davidson’s documentary on Morsberger. Davidson was already working on a film about Morsberger when the singer/songwriter was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the two agreed that they would just keep shooting. What Davidson captured is 18 months of the most prolific, intense, creative period of Morsberger’s long music career.

This program is an assembly of scenes from the documentary-in-progress, featuring reminiscences by many of Morsberger’s collaborators, studio and concert footage, and Morsberger’s own observations as he prepared for what he called “the great whatever.”

Morsberger passed away on June 2, 2013. He was 53 years old.
In September of 2011, he was diagnosed with grade 4 Glioblastoma. In the months following this shocking news, Morsberger was determined to release a series of new albums, as his battle with terminal brain cancer.

He recently wrote in album notes:

I am nearing the end of my story now, with a terminal illness. I have had a wonderful life, and feel so thankful that I have gotten to see this story end so happily, with so much joy, and the feeling that I have been able to honor the gifts that the universe bestowed on me. One can ask for no greater blessing than that; unless it is the knowledge that one leaves behind three wonderful sons; all doomed, I fear, to be artists of one kind or another, already reaching far beyond the accomplishments of the father who loves them always.

As a sideman/arranger, Morsberger’s credits include Patti Smith, the Grammy-winning Boardwalk Empire soundtrack album, My Morning Jacket, Crash Test Dummies, Marshall Crenshaw, Willie Nile, Jules Shear, Loudon Wainwright III, and more. Recent collaborations include albums with Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche, Brad Roberts, and more. A leading composer for PBS, his scoring credits include Masterpiece Theater, NOVA and Frontline. He was composer for the award-winning PBS series NOVAscienceNOW for its first five seasons.

Born in Ohio, Rob grew up in Oxford, England and studied composition at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to his death on June 2, 2013, he lived with his family in the Hudson Valley, just north of New York City.