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.
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.
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 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.
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.
Land of Enchantment is the fifteenth album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. The album reached number 33 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.
A Cowboy Has to Sing is the third Sons of the San Joaquin album and the first for a major label. All of the album's songs were written by members of the Sons of the Pioneers. Though newly recorded, the songs on this album can all be found on the two previous releases.
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.
Red River Drifter is the thirty-third album by American singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey.
