Musicians and other performers have been devastated by the impact of the coronavirus, often losing months of work in a flash as tour dates are cancelled.

Wareham’s Grace Morrison, a singer-songwriter, was set to perform three shows this week with country musician Sean Mullin before flying to Seattle next week to headline three shows. 

Now, not only have those dates been cancelled, she has lost money on plane tickets, car rentals, merchandise to sell -- investments that now won’t pay off.

While Morrison has been performing and teaching music all her life, she only seriously began touring last year.

“Honestly, it felt like magic that the first year I was performing, I got to go with [Mullin],” she said. While not all of the dates later in the spring have been cancelled, she thinks they likely will be. Most are being rescheduled, but as performers often book shows more than a year in advance, the scheduling can get really tricky really fast.

Morrison said that the pandemic has impacted performers across the industry, from local bands that play frequently in bars to the biggest names in the business.

Also affected are the many people behind the scenes who work at venues or in sound or lighting.

“All of us lost our jobs,” Morrison said. “The lucky ones, I think, are performers -- we can still do internet shows.”

Morrison put on her first virtual show on St. Patrick’s Day, and said she felt like it was a success, despite some difficulty with new equipment. A consistent number of people watched throughout the show, and some people contributed to a virtual tip jar.

“In a strange way, I feel like it’s bringing people together more in a really weird, dystopian way,” Morrison said, noting that people could send comments back to her while she performed. However, that doesn’t have quite the same impact as the energy of a crowd at a live, in-person performance.

“I’m also really inspired by artists supporting each other because it’s such a competitive field,” Morrison said. Musicians have been sharing each other’s work and doing live concerts together virtually. 

“Most of us don’t get to hear each other because we’re all working at the same time, so that’s an upside to all this,” she said.

Morrison has also noticed an increased interest from fans in supporting the artists they love. Because streaming services only pay artists a fraction of a penny for each play, Morrison said the best way to help artists is by paying them directly through a virtual tip jar or purchasing physical or digital copies of music or merchandise from their online shops.

Morrison said that while she is unable to perform live, which is the source of most of her income, she is hoping to do more song-writing work. In the past, she has written songs for weddings, funerals, and anniversaries. Those songs, she said, are collaborations in which she tries to give others a way to communicate through music. 

She’s also still teaching singing, guitar, piano, and songwriting through video. 

Morrison will be digitally taking over Americana Highway’s Facebook page for a live concert at 7:45 p.m. on April 3 at www.facebook.com/americanahighways.org/. 

To learn more about Morrison, hear her music, or watch videos of her performances, go to www.facebook.com/GraceMorrisonMusic/ or gracemorrison.com.