| Hard Country | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Country, soundtrack | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Michael Martin Murphey | |||
| Michael Martin Murphey chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
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. [2] [3]
Music
Production
Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter. He was one of the founding artists of progressive country. 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.
Tanya Denise Tucker is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. During her career Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood without losing her audience; she had a streak of top-10 and top-40 hits. She has had several successful albums, several Country Music Association award nominations, and hit songs including 1973's "What's Your Mama's Name?" and "Blood Red and Goin' Down", 1975's "Lizzie and the Rainman", 1988's "Strong Enough to Bend", and 1992's "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane". Tucker's 2019 album While I'm Livin' won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and "Bring My Flowers Now" from that same album won Tucker a shared songwriting Grammy for Best Country Song.
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.
Progressive country is a term used variously to describe a movement, radio format or subgenre of country music which developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a reaction against the slick, pop-oriented Nashville sound. Progressive country artists drew from Bakersfield and classic honky-tonk country and rock and roll, as well as folk, bluegrass, blues and Southern rock. Progressive country is sometimes conflated with outlaw country, which some country fans consider to be a harder-edged variant, and alternative country.
Cowboy Christmas III is the twenty-fifth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey and his third album of Christmas music. The album features traditional music and poetry performed by Michael Martin Murphy and cowgirl poet, Sarah Rische. Also included is a new Michael Martin Murphey song "The Kill Pen". All the poems were recited by Michael Martin Murphey except "Are You Going Home for Christmas", which was recited by Sarah Rische.
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.
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".
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 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 studio 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.
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.
Lone Wolf is the seventh album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album peaked at number 99 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 the 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.
Campfire on the Road is the thirty-second album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, his second solo performance album, and his fourth live album. The album was recorded live February 28 and March 1, 2011 at the Western Jubilee Warehouse Theater in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was released February 21, 2012.
Chip Young was an American session guitarist, and later record producer who worked primarily out of Nashville, Tennessee.