Michael Martin Murphey

He was born on March 14, 1945, and grew up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. As a boy he rode horses on his grandfather’s and uncle’s ranches, and he began performing at church, then at a folk music club and at a Western dude ranch. He went on to North Texas State University and then to UCLA, where he made connections in the music business.

In the 1960s he sometimes shared a stage with a fellow Texan, Michael Nesmith, and when Nesmith joined the Monkees, the group recorded Murphey’s “What Am I Doin’ Hangin’ Round,” his first success as a songwriter. With Boomer Castleman he formed the duo the Lewis and Clarke Expedition, which reached the pop charts with a single, and he wrote songs for Screen Gems. Kenny Rogers and the First Edition took his idea for a concept album about a Mojave Desert ghost town and made it into The Ballad of Calico.

Back in Texas, he became part of the Austin scene that was soon called progressive country; with Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P. Nunn he was at the center of what was called the “Cosmic Cowboy” movement, and Willie Nelson opened for him at the Armadillo World Headquarters. The producer Bob Johnston, who had worked with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Simon and Garfunkel, signed him to A&M, and his debut album, Geronimo’s Cadillac, came out in 1972, recorded in Nashville. Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir (1973), with “Cosmic Cowboy, Pt. 1” and “Alleys of Austin,” followed.

After moving to Colorado he recorded Blue Sky – Night Thunder (Epic, 1975), produced by Johnston, which gave him “Carolina in the Pines” and “Wildfire.” Written with Larry Cansler, “Wildfire” tells of a ghost horse; its piano introduction, played by the jazz pianist Jac Murphy, is based on a piece by Alexander Scriabin. The single reached No. 3 on the pop charts in 1975 and was later certified platinum, and the album went gold. Swans Against the Sun followed the same year.

In the early 1980s he began using his middle name to set himself apart from the actor Michael Murphy, and he made a country album for Capitol, Michael Martin Murphey, produced by Jim Ed Norman, that gave him the hit “Still Taking Chances.” In 1983 the Academy of Country Music named him its top new male vocalist. Through the decade he had more country hits, among them “What’s Forever For,” “Will It Be Love by Morning,” “What She Wants,” a re-recorded “Carolina in the Pines,” the No. 1 “A Long Line of Love,” “I’m Gonna Miss You, Girl,” “Talkin’ to the Wrong Man” and “From the Word Go,” and “A Face in the Crowd,” a duet with Holly Dunn, was nominated for a Grammy.

In 1985 he performed with the New Mexico Symphony in a show he called “A Night in the American West,” the first of many concerts with American and Canadian orchestras. Cowboy Songs (1990), mostly old cowboy songs, became the first album of cowboy music to go gold since the days of Marty Robbins, and its success led Warner Bros. to start the Warner Western imprint, which introduced Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell and the Sons of the San Joaquin to a wider public. More Cowboy Songs volumes and Christmas albums of cowboy songs followed, and he founded WestFest, a festival of Western music and culture. The Western Music Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2004, and he has received five Wrangler awards from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2019.

His son Ryan produced Buckaroo Blue Grass (Rural Rhythm, February 2009), on which Murphey recast his own songs, among them “Wildfire” and “Carolina in the Pines,” in bluegrass settings, adding two new songs. It was one of five nominees for Best Bluegrass Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards, where the award went to Steve Martin’s The Crow. Buckaroo Blue Grass II – Riding Song (2010) and Tall Grass & Cool Water (2011) continued the series. Also in 2009 he was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association Hall of Fame. In 2018 he released Austinology: Alleys of Austin, revisiting his early Austin years with guests including Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker and Kelly Willis.