Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey

Michael Martin Murphey is the all-time best-selling performer of American Cowboy Music. Among the most respected singer-songwriters in country, western, and popular music, Murphey has become the world's most prominent musical voice of the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy. A Western Music Hall of Fame inductee, Murphey has six gold records, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Marty Robbins. Over the course of his forty-year career in music, he has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire," "Carolina in the Pines," "What's Forever For," "Long Line of Love," "What She Wants," "Don't Count the Rainy Days," and "Cowboy Logic." Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment." Today, he is recognized around the world as "America's singing cowboy poet."

The Early Years

Michael Martin Murphey was born March 14, 1945 in Oak Cliff, Texas to Pink and Lois Murphey. He grew up in Dallas, Texas. His love of the outdoors began at an early age when his parents took him and his brother Mark on regular trips to the country to visit relatives. When he was six years old, Murphey started riding horses on his grandfather's and uncle's ranches. Years later he would remember sleeping on his grandfather's porch under the stars listening to the old man's stories and cowboy songs. He also enjoyed being around these men of the land as they went about their work. These experiences made a deep impression on the young boy.

During these early years, Murphey developed a special love for cowboy songs and stories. He was also an avid reader, especially drawn to the books of Mark Twain and William Faulkner. As a youth, he enjoyed writing poety, and loved listening to his uncle's old 78rpm records — particularly country and folk artists such as Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Woody Guthrie. In junior high school, he began performing as an amateur. At the age of 17, he took his first "professional" music job, playing western songs around the campfire at a Texas ranch. By the early 1960s, Murphey was playing the clubs in Dallas, performing country, folk, and rock music. He won over the conservative Texas audiences with his charm and talent, and soon formed a band that developed a significant following in the Dallas area.

Songwriting Success

After graduating high school, Murphey moved to California where he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in Medieval History and Literature. He signed a publishing deal with Sparrow Music and soon made a name for himself in the Los Angeles folk scene. By 1964, he formed a group with an old Texas friend Michael Nesmith, John London, and John Raines, under the name the Trinity River Boys.

In 1967, Murphey formed the Lewis & Clarke Expedition with Owen Castleman and recorded one self-titled album for Colgems Records. They had a moderate hit with "I Feel Good (I Feel Bad)."

Murphey's first big break came through his friend Michael Nesmith, who had become part of the popular television pop group, The Monkees. Nesmith asked Murphey to write them a song for the next Monkees album, and Murphey came through with "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round." The album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd sold over five million copies.

In 1968, Murphey moved to the San Gabriel Mountains near the Mojave Desert to work on his songwriting. Based on the success of his songs, he signed a contract with Screen Gems, the publishing arm of Columbia Pictures. His songs were recoreded by Flatt & Scruggs and Bobbie Gentry. Kenny Rogers recorded an entire album of Michael Murphey songs, The Ballad of Calico, about a Mojave Desert ghost town. Murphey wrote additional songs for The Monkees, but soon he grew disillusioned with the poor financial rewards and the Los Angeles music scene.

The Outlaw Years

In 1971, Murphey returned to Texas and became part of the so-called "Outlaw Country" movement, playing alongside other maverick performers such as Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker. He created a unique sound that combined his country, rock, and folk influences. It was during this period that Murphey wrote "Geronimo's Cadillac," a song about Indian rights that later became an unofficial anthem for the American Indian Movement in the early 1970s.

In 1971, Murphey was signed to A&M Records by Bob Johnson, who discovered him in a Dallas club, the Rubiayat. Johnston had produced some of the country's biggest recording artists, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Simon and Garfunkel. In 1972, Johnston produced Murphey's first album Geronimo's Cadillac in Nashville, Tennessee. The sound of the album reflects Murphey's love of folk, country, and blues music. Murphey's early gospel influences are also evident throughout the album. The title track was released as a single, and reached the Top 40 in the U.S. pop charts. Rolling Stone Magazine proclaimed, "On the strength of his first album alone, Michael Murphey is the best new songwriter in the country."

In 1973, Murphey followed up with the album Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, which continued the urban cowboy theme of the first album.

Throughout this period, Murphey was associated with the outlaw country music movement that began in Austin, Texas in the 1970s. He performed a number of times at the Armadillo World Headquarters, and his photo was even used for the original cover of Jan Reid's book, The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock.." But Michael Murphey's musical vision was expanding beyond the confines of the outlaw sound and moving toward a much more ambitious musical tapestry.

Wildfire and the Epic Years

In 1973, Murphey signed to Epic Records and released his album Michael Murphey that same year. In 1975, he released his seminal album, Blue Sky, Night Thunder, which contained the hit "Carolina in the Pines" and what is perhaps his masterpiece, "Wildfire," a sentimental song about a woman and her ghost horse. As a boy, he first heard the story of a ghost horse rescuing people in the desert from his grandfather. Years later, Murphey had a dream about this ghost horse and wrote the words and music the same day.

In May 1975, "Wildfire" reached No. 1 on the Radio and Records charts, No. 3 on Billboard's Pop Chart, and No. 1 on all Adult Contemporary Charts, giving Murphey a new level of commercial success and exposure. The song's success was due, in large part, to the unique harmonies supplied by Jeff Hanna and Jimmy Ibbotson from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and the beautiful piano introduction based on a classical piece by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, played by master jazz pianist Jac Murphy.

Murphey followed up with four additional albums during the late 1970s: Swans Against the Sun (1976), Flowing Free Forever (1976), Lone Wolf (1978), and Peaks, Valleys, Honky Tonks & Alleys (1979). The album Swans Against the Sun produced his first country hits "A Mansion on the Hill" and "Flowing Free Forever," as well as "Cherokee Fiddle," which was a modestly successful single. But none of these albums generated the enthusiasm or sales of Blue Sky, Night Thunder.

In 1981, Murphey began working in films, starting with Hard Country, which he cowrote. To distinguish himself from another well-known actor named Michael Murphey, the singer began using his middle name for film and music credits. To this day, he is known to the world as Michael Martin Murphey.

Mainstream Success

In 1982, Murphey signed with Liberty Records and produced two original albums, Michael Martin Murphey and The Heart Never Lies, and a superb compilation of rerecorded versions of his A&M, Epic, and Liberty hits. During the early 1980s, Murphey had significant commercial success with hits like "Still Taking Chances," "Disenchanted," "Don't Count the Rainy Days," "Will It Be Love By Morning," "Radio Land," and the No. 1 hit "What's Forever For," co-written with Mike D'Abo.

In 1983, Murphey was voted Best New Male Vocalist of the year by the Academy of Country Music. In 1985, his rerecorded version of "Carolina in the Pines" reached the Top 10.

In 1985, Murphey signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros. Records and continued his streak of successful recordings. In 1987, he achieved a No. 1 country hit with the song "A Long Line Of Love." He had additional hits with his duet with Holly Dunn "A Face In The Crowd," which was nominated for a Grammy Award, and "Talkin' To The Wrong Man," which featured his son Ryan. In 1988, he had two hits that reached No. 3 on the charts, Jesse Winchester's "I'm Going to Miss You, Girl" and his own "From The Word Go" from the album River of Time.

In 1985, Murphey performed with the New Mexico Symphony in a show called A Night in the American West, which led to many subsequent performances with American and Canadian symphonies, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. These western shows, and the songs he was writing and recording at the time, presaged a major change in Murphey's career — a change that would lead the artist down the unlikely trail of Cowboy Music.

Cowboy Songs

In 1990, Murphey released the album Cowboy Songs — a project he'd been working on for several years. This was a pure labor of love, since no one had recorded an album of authentic cowboy songs in more than twenty years. The album contained Murphey's versions of old cowboy songs from the public domain such as "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "The Old Chisholm Trail," the beautiful "Spanish is the Loving Tongue," the classic "The Streets of Laredo," and his tip of the hat to Roy Rogers, "Happy Trails." The album also contained Murphey's own "Cowboy Logic."

Murphey was reluctant to promote the project, but he eventually released "Cowboy Logic" as a single and it quickly became a hit. Soonafter, the album caught on and sold much better than expected. Cowboy Songs earned widespread praise from country and folk music critics, such as Jack Hurst from the Chicago Tribune who wrote, "[This is] not only one of the finest albums of [the] year but also one of the finest of the last decade. Its 22 riveting cuts represent a labor of not only love but also scholarship; it raises a cult musical genre to the level of mainstream art." Cowboy Songs went on to achieve Gold status, the first western album to do so since Marty Robbins' No. 1 Cowboy in 1980.

In 1991, Murphey followed up with two additional albums of cowboy songs. His innovative concept album Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II contained wonderful versions of traditional and original western Christmas songs, including "The Christmas Trail," "The Cowboy Christmas Ball," and "Two-Step 'Round the Christmas Tree." An accompanying video was later released of one of Murphey's Cowboy Christmas Ball concerts, which included many of these songs. Cowboy Songs III contained a mix of traditional and original cowboy songs, including a virtual duet with Marty Robbins, "Big Iron," which used an early Marty Robbins' vocal track.

Cowboy Songs and its followup albums were so successful that they inspired the formation of Warner Western, a new label devoted to western music and cowboy poetry. In 1992, Warner Western issued albums by Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, and the Sons of the San Joaquin. All three records were produced by Michael Martin Murphey.

In 1995, Murphey further demonstrated his musical ambitions with the concept album Sagebrush Symphony, recorded live with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Herb Jeffries, and the Sons of the San Joaquin.

In 1997, Murphey released the album The Horse Legends, a musical tribute to this majestic animal. The album included several new Murphey songs, a beautiful new version of "Wildfire," and covers of some well-known songs, such as Dan Fogelberg's "Run for the Roses" and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Pony Man."

In 1998, Murphey left Warner Bros. Records and started his own record label, WestFest/Real West Productions. That year, he released Cowboy Songs Four, which contained both traditional and original cowboy songs, including "Utah Carroll," "Little Joe, the Wrangler," and Murphey's "Song from Lonesome Dove." In 1999, he released Acoustic Christmas Carols: Cowboy Christmas II, which included Murphey's quiet renditions of traditional Christmas songs, and featured his son Ryan and daughter Laura.

In 2001, Murphey released a very successful compilation of some of his best-loved songs, Playing Favorites, which included rerecorded versions of such songs as "Carolina in the Pines," "Cherokee Fiddle," "Cowboy Logic," "What's Forever For," and "Wildfire." He followed this up in 2002 with Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II, which again included rerecorded versions of some of his best-loved cowboy songs. That same year, Murphey released Cowboy Christmas III, which contained a new original song "The Kill Pen," as well as original cowboy poetry written and recited by his daughter Karen.

In 2004, Murphey released Live at Billy Bob's, and in 2006, he released Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs, Vol. 5.

During the past twenty years, Michael Martin Murphey has been a tireless champion of western cowboy culture and the western wilderness. In 1986 he founded WestFest, an annual music festival held at Copper Mountain, Colorado that celebrates western art and culture. The festival has attracted the biggest names in Country Music as well as Western Music.

Murphey almost singlehandedly resurrected the cowboy song genre and its image throughout the country. Molly Carpenter, writing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, noted, "Murphey's love for the American West clearly comes through in his songs, painted with vivid images of the rugged mountains and vast deserts of southwest landscapes, all evidence of his travels from his native Texas to California's Mojave Desert, Colorado's Rockies and the wild diversity of New Mexico, his home for the past 10 years."

During the 1990s, in a further effort to preserve the traditions of the West, Murphey led a group of performers — including cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell and western music historian and troubadour Don Edwards — in a series of improvisational concerts called "Cowboy Logic," which toured throughout the United States, including such unlikely locations as New York City and Las Vegas. Waddy Mitchell is the co-founder of the Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Murphey met Mitchell there in 1986, the first such event he had ever attended. Murphey later described the transforming event as "a religious experience," noting, "I'd been collecting cowboy music and performing it among my friends. But when I saw a lot of other guys like me and also women performing this music and enjoying each other's company, it was the most important thing that had happened to me in years in my musical life."

On May 22, 2007, Murphey made a rare appearance in New York City to perform "Wildfire" on the Late Show with David Letterman. The song had become one of Letterman's favorites and was included regularly on the show.

Legacy

Michael Martin Murphey has had a successful music career that has spanned four decades and included such musical genres as folk, country, rock, popular, western, and cowboy music. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, he has contributed some of the best-loved songs of his generation. His songs have been recorded by Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Cher, Lyle Lovett, Flatt & Scruggs, Claire Hamill, Hoyt Axton, Roger Miller, Bobbie Gentry, Michael Nesmith, and the Monkees.

Murphey played a major role in the resurrection of the cowboy song genre, recording and producing some of the most successful cowboy music of the past 40 years. His album Cowboy Songs inspired a whole series of albums. For his accomplishments in the Western and Cowboy Music field, Murphey received 5 awards from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. His name is now synonymous with Cowboy Music.

Honors and Awards

• Inductee: Western Music Hall of Fame
• 2007 Wrangler Awards — Best Song from National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame for "Long and Lonesome Road to Dalhart" from Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs 5
• 2007 Texas Music Awards — Best Song for "Close the Land (America's Heartland)" from Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs 5
• Letter of Commendation from the President of the United States — For Murphey's involvement producing John Wayne's 100th Birthday Celebration in 2007
• Rolling Stone Magazine Best New Singer-Songwriter in the Nation — For the album, Geronimo's Cadillac
• BMI Award, Gold Record — For "Wildfire" one of the most played songs in radio history in all formats
• Gold Record — For Cowboy Songs the first Gold album in Cowboy Music since Marty Robbins
• The Golden Smokey Award for Outstanding Public Service in Wildfire Prevention 1997 — presented by U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, National Association of State Forests and the Advertising Council
• "King of the Cowboys Award" for "Outstanding Contribution to Western Family Entertainment" by the Cody Order of Scouts, State of Nebraska
• Inductee: Cody Order of Scouts, Nebraska
• Inductee: Nebraska Country Music Hall of Fame
• Inductee: Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame
• Best Album and Song — Academy of Western Artists, 2000
• Best New Male Vocalist — Academy of Country Music, 1983
• Golden Smokey Award for Outstanding Service to the U.S. National Parks Service, 1998
• Western Heritage Awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame (six-time winner)
• International Charley Russell Western Heritage Society Red Sash Award for outstanding Service in Preservation of Western Heritage, 1999-2000
• The New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000
• Will Rogers Cowboy Philosopher Award, Will Rogers Memorial Commission, 1997
• Honorary Lifetime Membership: American Quarter Horse Association
• CMA Award (three-time nominee)

Discography

Albums

• 2006 Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs, Vol. 5
• 2004 Live at Billy Bob's
• 2002 Cowboy Christmas III
• 2002 Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II
• 2001 Playing Favorites
• 1999 Acoustic Christmas Carols
• 1998 Cowboy Songs 4
• 1997 Horse Legends
• 1995 Sagebrush Symphony
• 1995 America's Horses
• 1993 Cowboy Songs 3
• 1993 Wide Open Country
• 1991 Cowboy Christmas
• 1990 Cowboy Songs
• 1989 Land of Enchantment
• 1988 River of Time
• 1987 Americana
• 1986 Tonight We Ride
• 1983 The Heart Never Lies
• 1982 Michael Martin Murphey
• 1981 Hard Country
• 1979 Peaks, Valleys, Honky Tonks & Alleys
• 1978 Lone Wolf
• 1976 Flowing Free Forever
• 1976 Swans Against the Sun
• 1975 Blue Sky - Night Thunder
• 1973 Michael Murphey
• 1973 Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir
• 1972 Geronimo's Cadillac

Compilations

• 2006 Cowboy Christmas Gift Set
• 2001 Ultimate Collection
• 1998 Wildfire 1972-1984
• 1992 What's Forever For
• 1990 The Best of Country
• 1982 The Best of Michael Martin Murphey

External Links

• Michael Martin Murphey Official website