Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

Michael Martin Murphey is a singer-songwriter who often performs in a big cowboy hat and full Western wear: blue jeans, cowboy boots, yoke-collar shirt, even leather chaps sometimes. Dressed like that, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Murphey carrying a lasso — but perhaps a boomerang might be more apt, because Murphey’s career has taken him full circle to where he started in life and music.

Michael Martin Murphey was born in Texas on March 14, 1945. In 1971, he was discovered performing in a club in Dallas and was signed to A&M Records. A contract with Epic Records followed a couple years later. His career would take him to Austin, Texas, and later, to Los Angeles and Nashville. He was influential in the development of what came to be known as the Cosmic Cowboy and Outlaw Country genres, and he enjoyed several years of hitmaking, whether for himself or others. Artists who recorded songs by Michael Martin Murphey include The Monkees, Kenny Rogers, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dolly Parton Johnny Cash and Lyle Lovett. Although he was rooted in country and folk, some of his songs also landed in the Billboard Hot 100 as crossover hits; notably, “Wildfire,” “What’s Forever For?” (written by Rafe Van Hoy) and “Still Taking Chances,” all songs that for today’s audiences may sound like Yacht Rock.

In the mid-1980s, Murphey entered the world of classical music with a work he performed with the New Mexico Symphony called A Night in the American West. The music was widely embraced and led to hundreds of performances with symphony orchestras across the United States and Canada.

Throughout his life, Murphey has maintained a fascination with the culture and history of the western United States and his home state of Texas. And that’s what brought him back to his roots. In 1990, he released the album Cowboy Songs, a collection of traditional folk songs aligned with cowboy culture. Our Classic Americana pick of the week comes from that album; it’s Michael Martin Murphey’s rendition of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

External Links

Michael Martin Murphey – official site