John Murry | |
---|---|
Birth name | John Miller Murry |
Born | 1979 (age 44–45) Mississippi, United States |
Origin | Tupelo, Mississippi, United States |
Genres | Folk, Americana, indie, experimental |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, producer |
Instrument(s) | Electric and acoustic guitars, piano |
Years active | 1998–present |
Labels | Evangeline, Spunk, Warner, Rubyworks, TV Records, Latent Recordings, Submarine Cat |
Website | www |
John Miller Murry (born 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, composer and producer. He is from Tupelo, Mississippi, and currently lives in Drumlish, County Longford, Ireland.
His debut solo record, The Graceless Age, was issued on Evangeline Recording Co. in 2013 and listed by Uncut as one of the 10 best records of 2012. [1] Mojo also included it in their 10 best albums of 2013; The Guardian included it in their Top 50 of 2013; and American Songwriter included it in their Top 5 of 2013.
Murry has recorded and toured with Memphis singer-songwriter Bob Frank. Murry often writes and collaborates with the San Francisco-based singer-songwriter, Chuck Prophet.
The follow-up to The Graceless Age, was recorded in Canada by Michael Timmins and was released by TV Records in Europe under exclusive license from Latent Recordings on July 14, 2017, and in February 2018 in North America by Latent Recordings.
2021 saw the release of The Stars are Gods Bullet Holes which charted at 22 in the U.K. indie album charts and No 6 in the U.K. Americana charts. This album earned the distinction of becoming the greatest selling album in Papua New Guinea in 2021
John Murry is the second cousin of William Faulkner through adoption, though a more direct relation hidden from Murry has been put forth by Robin Young of NPR and others. [2] [3]
He began singing at the age of five in church. At 12, he learned the Tom Petty song "Free Fallin". He began playing in bands when he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, as a teenager. [4]
Murry was a member of several bands in the early 2000s. His first appearance as a solo artist was on an album in collaboration with Bob Frank, World Without End, which was released on Bowstring Records in 2006. David Fricke of Rolling Stone described it as "all bullets, blades and guilt without end." [5]
Murry moved to the Bay Area of California in 2004 and began performing solo work. He began recording with producer (and American Music Club drummer) Tim Mooney in 2005 and worked at San Francisco's Closer Recording Studio, where he met Chuck Prophet. After several collaborative recordings with Bob Frank, Murry released his debut solo album, The Graceless Age in 2012, which was well received by Mojo , Uncut and The Wall Street Journal .
Murry's debut solo record, The Graceless Age, details his struggle with substance abuse. It was released in 2012 in the UK on Bucketfull of Brains, and in 2013 in the US and Australia on Evangeline Recording Co. and Spunk Records, respectively. It received critical acclaim from a number of magazines. It was featured in the September 2012 issue of Uncut; senior editor Allan Jones called it "a masterpiece" and gave it a 9/10 rating. Mojo gave the record a 5/5 star review, and The Guardian called it " a work of genius", also giving it 5/5 stars. NPR said the record's "deep rock 'n' roll is alluring, emotional and infectious," [6] while American Songwriter said it was filled with songs about "drugs and near-death experiences" that had "standouts everywhere." [7] Q magazine called it "Intensely beautiful... Like Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan and Josh T Pearson rolled into one really broken dream." The record featured a song called "Little Colored Balloons," chronicling Murry's near-overdose from heroin, the video for which was directed by Chuck Mobley and premiered on Billboard. [8]
Shortly after the release of The Graceless Age, Murry's mentor Tim Mooney died suddenly and Murry eventually relocated to Ireland. A Short History Of Decay was released in July 2017 on Michael Timmins label, Latent Recordings, in Canada and on TV Records Ltd in Europe. Produced by Michael Timmins and recorded over a period of five days in Toronto, A Short History Of Decay featured Michael's brother and fellow Cowboy Junkie Pete Timmins on drums, Josh Finlayson on bass with backing vocals by Cait O'Riordan. A Short History Of Decay has again received widespread critical acclaim. With glowing in reviews in Mojo (4/5), Q magazine (4/5), Uncut (8/10), The Sunday Times who named Murry "Seer Of The Week', Hotpress (9/10) and The Quietus observing "There is more than a touch of Cave's brooding darkness about Murry, whose rumbling voice and preoccupation with mortality place him in a genre somewhere between Mark Lanegan and Mark Linkous".
A documentary about Murry's life (titled The Graceless Age: The Ballad of John Murry) is being released in 2023 by filmmaker Sarah Share and producer Nuala Cunningham. Additional producers: New Decade/Hawkeye/Irish Film Board .
The release coincides with a 10th anniversary reissue of the album The Graceless Age.
Remastered Record Store Day 2022 10th Anniversary Reissue (Limited to 1000 copies - 10th Anniversary Edition Double Gold Vinyl Half Speed Master - Remastered by John Webber at Air Studios Lyndhurst, London, UK) - (Rubyworks), 2022.
Screaming Trees were an American rock band formed in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1984 by vocalist Mark Lanegan, guitarist Gary Lee Conner, bassist Van Conner, and drummer Mark Pickerel. Pickerel was replaced by Barrett Martin in 1991. Screaming Trees became known as one of the pioneers of grunge along with Melvins, Mudhoney, U-Men, Skin Yard, Soundgarden, Green River, and Malfunkshun, among others. Although widely associated with grunge, the band's sound incorporated hard rock and psychedelic elements.
Cowboy Junkies are an alternative country and folk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1985 by Alan Anton (bassist), Michael Timmins, Peter Timmins (drummer) and Margo Timmins (vocalist). The three Timminses are siblings, and Anton worked with Michael Timmins during their first couple of bands. John Timmins was a member of the band but left the group before the recording of their debut studio album. The band line-up has never changed since, although they use several guest musicians on many of their studio albums, including multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird who has performed on every album except the first.
Mark William Lanegan was an American singer, songwriter and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age and The Gutter Twins. He released 12 solo studio albums as well as three collaboration albums with Isobel Campbell and two with Duke Garwood. He was known for his baritone voice, which was described as being "as scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather" and has been compared to Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave.
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Latent Recordings is a Canadian independent record label founded in 1981. It was dormant in the 1990s while the Cowboy Junkies were signed to American labels, but began to release independently produced albums in the 2000s. By the late 2000s, it sold downloads and CDs online.
Charles William Prophet is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. A Californian, Prophet first achieved notice in the American psychedelic/desert rock group Green on Red, with whom he toured and recorded in the 1980s. He has also recorded a number of solo records, and gained prominence as a musician and songwriter.
Isobel Campbell is a Scottish singer, songwriter and cellist. She rose to prominence at age nineteen as a member of the indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, but left the group to pursue a solo career, first as The Gentle Waves, and later under her own name. She later collaborated with singer Mark Lanegan on three albums. Her latest studio album, Bow To Love, was released in 2024.
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