Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 14, 2002 | |||
Recorded | Soundstage Studios, Omni Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country, cowboy music | |||
Length | 51:14 | |||
Label | Real West Production | |||
Producer | Ryan Murphey | |||
Michael Martin Murphey chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Cowboy Classics: Playing Favorites II is the twenty-fourth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. It is Murphey's follow-up to his 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. [2]
Music
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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.
Strait Out of the Box is the first box set album by American country music artist George Strait. It contains four albums worth of music, dating from 1976 to 1995. It mainly consists of Strait's singles, except for a select few that Strait decided to exclude. They were replaced by Strait's choice of album cuts and several studio outtakes. It also contains Strait's three singles recorded in the 1970s for indie label D Records, one of which, "I Just Can't Go on Dying Like This", was re-recorded for Strait's 2013 album Love Is Everything.
Step Inside This House is the seventh album by Lyle Lovett, released in 1998. In contrast with his earlier albums, populated mostly by songs penned by Lovett, House is a double-length album of cover songs written by fellow Texans.
Heartland Cowboy: Cowboy Songs, Vol. 5 is the twenty-seventh album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his fifth album of cowboy songs. The album includes the hit song "Long and Lonesome Ride to Dalhart", which won the 2006 Wrangler Award for Outstanding Original Western Composition. The album was inspired by Murphey's life on his ranch and his real experiences working as an activist and artist in American Ranching and Farming.
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.
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".
The Horse Legends is the twentieth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. This is Murphey's tribute to the horse and contains a duet with Johnny Cash on "Tennessee Stud", cover versions of Dan Fogelberg's "Run for the Roses" and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Pony Man", and re-recordings of Murphey's "Wildfire" and "The Running Blood". The Horse Legends was the last album Murphey recorded for Warner Bros. Records.
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.
Tonight We Ride is the twelfth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his first for Warner Bros. Records. Released in 1986, the album was produced by Jim Ed Norman and contains guest performances by Pam Tillis, Reggie Young, Mark O'Connor, Charlie McCoy, and J.D. Souther. The album's title track was also its first single. The album peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.
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.
Milestones: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American country music artist Holly Dunn. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in July 1991. Two singles were released from the album, "Maybe I Mean Yes" and "No One Takes the Train Anymore". The former peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. The album peaked at #25 on the Top Country Albums chart and #162 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
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.
Dos Divas is a 2013 album by country music artists Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan. It features the single "I Know What You Did Last Night". The collection features 14 tracks; of these tracks, 6 are duets. The pair have recorded four tracks each as soloists for this collection.
Red River Drifter is the thirty-third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey.