Michael Martin Murphey Biography
13 March 1945, Dallas, Texas, USA. Having been influenced by gospel music at an early age, Murphey aspired to become a Baptist minister. From 1965-70, as a staff songwriter for Screen Gems, Murphey was writing theme tunes and soundtrack material for television. He grew disillusioned with the poor financial rewards, and left. For a short time he was a member of the Lewis And Clarke Expedition, which he formed with Owen Castleman, before going solo. Geronimo's Cadillac was produced in Nashville by Bob Johnston, who was responsible for Murphey's signing with A&M Records. The title track was released as a single, and achieved a Top 40 place in the USA pop charts. As well as folk, country and blues, Murphey's early gospel leanings are evident in the overall sound of what is an excellent album. He signed to Epic Records in 1973 after releasing Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, which continued the urban cowboy theme of his earlier work. Michael Martin Murphey included a number of songs Murphey had co-written with Michael D'Abo. His albums followed a more middle-of-the-road format after this, with occasional glimpses of his better work, as in Peaks, Valleys, Honky-Tonks And Alleys. However, he did reach number 3 in the US pop singles charts in 1975, achieving a gold disc with "Wildfire". Murphey has never had the degree of commercial success his writing would indicate that he is capable of. However, as a writer, he has had songs covered by John Denver, Cher, Claire Hamill, Hoyt Axton, Bobbie Gentry and the Monkees, for whom he wrote "What Am I Doing Hanging 'Round?". He also wrote songs for Michael Nesmith including "The Oklahoma Backroom Dance". Murphey later played at Ronnie Scott's club in London, for a press presentation, and was supported on the occasion by J.D. Souther, Don Henley, Dave Jackson and Gary Nurm. He was also featured in the movie Urban Cowboy, which included his song "Cherokee Fiddle". Murphey continued recording easy-listening country music into the 80s with great success (in 1984 he changed the billing on his singles releases from Michael Murphey to Michael Martin Murphey). In 1987, he achieved a number 1 country single with the wedding song, "A Long Line Of Love", and had further hits with "A Face In The Crowd", a duet with Holly Dunn, and "Talkin' To The Wrong Man", which featured his son, Ryan.
Murphey went off at a tangent in the 90s and, like Ian Tyson, chose to revive old cowboy songs as well as writing his own. He is a superb performer of this material, but whether this will prove to be a good career move remains to be seen, as many country performers want to forget the music's cowboy roots. Murphey could be described as a latter-day Marty Robbins and Cowboy Songs III does include, with the aid of modern technology, a seamless duet with Robbins on "Big Iron'. However, Murphey is far more ambitious than Robbins, as he ably demonstrated with 1995's Sagebrush Symphony (recorded with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra) and 1997"s The Horse Legends. He started his own record label in 1998 following his departure from Warner Brothers Records.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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