Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, country music and popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. He has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", "What's Forever For", "A Long Line of Love", "What She Wants", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", and "Maybe This Time". Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment". Murphey has become a prominent musical voice for the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy.
Live at Billy Bob's Texas is the twenty-sixth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, and his second live album. The album was recorded live at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, Texas.
Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II is the twenty-fourth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. This is Murphey's followup to his successful 2001 compilation Playing Favorites and contains rerecorded versions of many of his cowboy songs. Murphey's attraction to the cowboy's way of life is an attempt to preserve his own cultural heritage, breathing new life into classics like "I Ride an Old Paint", "Red River Valley", and "Yellow Rose of Texas". Among the highlights of the album is a stately six-minute version of "Streets of Laredo", arranged for fiddle and piano. In the liner notes, Murphey includes a short note concerning each of the song's origins.
Playing Favorites is the twenty-third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Released August 21, 2001, the album features completely new recordings of eleven of the artist's country, cowboy, and popular crossover classics, as well as one new song. In his liner notes, Murphey writes that "songs are like children; they grow, evolve, change with time." The concept behind Playing Favorites was to document the growth and evolution of his best-loved tunes, using many new musicians and modern recording techniques not available when the original recordings were done.
Geronimo's Cadillac is the debut album of American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, released on May 25, 1972 by A&M Records (4358). Recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee and London, England, the album is considered one of his finest albums. The title track was Murphey's first Top 40 hit, and was also recorded by Cher and Hoyt Axton. The Monkees recorded "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" in June 1967 for their album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.. John Denver recorded "Boy from the Country" in 1980 for his album Some Days Are Diamonds. Geronimo's Cadillac peaked at number 160 on the Billboard 200.
Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir is the second album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Recorded at Ray Stevens Sound Laboratory in Nashville, Tennessee, the album consists of songs that are "borderline romantic" without being too intricate or too commercial sounding, and "manages to keep its simplicity and rustic charm intact." Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir peaked at number 196 on the Billboard 200.
Michael Murphey is the third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first for Epic Records, released in 1974.
Acoustic Christmas Carols: Cowboy Christmas II is the twenty-second album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his second album of Christmas music. Recorded at St. James Episcopal Church in Taos, New Mexico, the church Murphey attended at the time, the album consists of carols from the nineteenth century or earlier played on acoustic instruments, among them "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World". Murphey's arrangements feature his own finger-picked guitar, accompanied by John McEuen on banjo or mandolin, or Paul Sadler on hammer dulcimer. Murphey's sons, Ryan and Brennan, play blues guitar licks on "Go Tell It on the Mountain", and his daughter, Laura, sings a duet with her father on "Silent Night". This is a "spare and reverent Christmas album, appropriate for a rustic celebration in a Western church."
Cowboy Songs Four is the twenty-first album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his fourth album of cowboy songs, and his first album produced by his son, Ryan Murphey. The album features a guest performance by Lyle Lovett on "Farther Down the Line".
Sagebrush Symphony is the nineteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his second live album since his 1979 live/studio album Peaks,Valleys,Honkytonks and Alleys, and his first album with a symphony orchestra. Recorded live with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, this ambitious album, which presents cowboy songs and poems in a symphonic setting, contains a selection of Murphey's most popular songs, as well as traditional cowboy music. Murphey turns in "an impassioned performance" and the inclusion of guest artists Sons of the San Joaquin, Ric Orozco, Herb Jeffries, and Robert Mirabal "adds to the musical diversity and richness of the album."
Cowboy Songs III – Rhymes of the Renegades is the eighteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his third album of cowboy songs. The album is devoted to cowboy folklore and true tales of the West and focuses on real-life outlaws, from Jesse James to Billy The Kid to Belle Starr. Murphey performs these songs "with a scholar's eye and a fan's heart."
Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II is the seventeenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his second album of cowboy songs, and his first album of Christmas music.
Cowboy Songs is the sixteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first album of cowboy songs. The album peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
River of Time is the fourteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album contains a newly recorded version of "What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?" and a duet with his son, Ryan Murphey, on "Talkin' to the Wrong Man" which reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in July 1988 and number 1 on the RPM Country Singles chart in Canada. River of Time peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
Hard Country is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first soundtrack album. The 1981 film Hard Country stars Jan-Michael Vincent and Kim Basinger.
Flowing Free Forever is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album establishes Murphey's love of wide open spaces and his "desire to let his soul roam freely." The album was not as commercially successful as a few of his earlier releases, but "Murphey's visions and persona remain intact." The album contains the song "Cherokee Fiddle", which was later recorded by Johnny Lee for the film soundtrack for Urban Cowboy. Flowing Free Forever peaked at number 130 on the Billboard 200.
Peaks, Valleys, Honky Tonks & Alleys is the eighth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first live album. The first five tracks were recorded at the legendary Palomino Club in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, an important West Coast country music venue. The remaining five tracks are studio recordings. The live tracks showcase Murphey's early work with some interesting twists. His "Cosmic Cowboy" turns into a breakdown, while "Another Cheap Western" is coupled with The Olympics' 1958 hit, "Western Movies". The album produced the singles "Backslider's Wine" and "Chain Gang" that peaked at numbers 92 and 93 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart respectively.
Buckaroo Blue Grass is the twenty-eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, and his first album of bluegrass music.
Tall Grass & Cool Water is the thirty-first album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his third album of bluegrass music, and his sixth album of cowboy music.
Lone Cowboy: Live & Solo is the twenty-ninth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his first solo album, and his third live album. The album was recorded live in October 2008 at the Western Jubilee Warehouse Theater in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was released January 12, 2010.
