Murphey, Michael Martin 2009-05-06
Influential Texas musicians/writers reminisce, About how they came into music and how they, Found each other and made great music., Michael Martin Murphey and Bob Livingston, Talk back and forth about stories they both recall
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Michael Martin Murphey
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: May 06, 2009
Location: Horseshoe Bay, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 01:49:30
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1:
Tempo songs, Depends on the setting, Cotton eyed Joe, Aerobics, He watches the audience, Balances 50% Country pop, Cowboy Christmas, Planned out, Scripted, The same every single night each year, 8 core songs that have to be done, Wildfire has to be sung at every concert, Ex) Rolling Stones, they have to play Honky Tonk Woman, Fitting Wildfire into the program was difficult, Acoustics, Plays cowboy music, Always fits in a few romantic songs, B Tuning, High strings E, B, D, and G, Low strings B, F sharp, Figured it out by playing Celtic tunes, Different tunings, Bass, He played bass when he needed money, Method acting, How you keep things “fresh”, Start in the middle range of people, Not too down, and not too up, Buffalo Bill, His hero in entertainment, Secret to playing with a band, Let everyone be in the spot light, He is frustrated when the light man keeps the spotlight, On him, Build into a band show, Spotlight should be no longer than 50 % of the time
Tape 1, Side 2:
Back from eating lunch, He liked being at the top of a pedestal, Granddaddy Murphey lived in Hawaii, Irish Sailor, Heavy weight champ- boxer, Stereotypical Irish man, He got a plastic ukulele and learned how to play it, Hawaiian Music, Felt connected to it because his Granddaddy, It was important to him to learn the music, Granddaddy’s scam, He had a lot of money because his brother and himself, Did a scam on the soldiers to make money, To the music store, His Granddaddy bought him a rosewood ukulele, He bought one for Michael’s dad as well, Eventually his brother Mark took it up, The whole family got into it, Gibson Hummingbird, D 28 Martin, Granddaddy said to pick one, He picked the Martin, Learned to play by ear, Randy Wood- custom made him a guitar, Challenged, Felt a tad out of place because he was the only one, Who could not read music, Boomer Castleman- went to UCLA /roommate, UCLA, They taught Greek, He believes that Jesus presented his sermons in song, He learned Greek at North Texas, Coinage Greek, He originally wanted to be a minister, Americans taught Shakespeare, British taught Mark Twain, Just a little twist, Fascinated on an academic research level, The Celtic way, Learn, practice, and compose, The Iliad and Odyssey, Gullins- Murphey was in the very first creative, Writing course at UCLA, Writing, His songs used to be very straight, Perfect rhythm, The blues guys had a sense of structure, Similar but different than that of the cowboys songs, Songs, He would come back to Texas for Christmas, He was the only one at the time who wrote songs, West Texas Highway- one of the first of his written songs, George Hamilton IV recorded it, He had been writing since high school, Imitation is the only way to learn how to write songs, No one writer just writes about something they have not known, Mozart is the closest thing to something like that, Hillbilly Grammar, P.W Joyce “English as we speak it in Ireland”, They are discussing the Hillbilly grammar, Romance languages – “The chair Senor, you’re sitting on it”, That is proper language, Influence, He was influenced by the Black culture, He was around it, and enjoyed it, hence, The reason why he got so involved in the Civil, Rights Movement
Tape 2, Side 1:
Civil Rights Movement, Dallas, Texas, Highest membership of the KKK in the south, Other than Indiana- Grand Dragon lived there, Southern Baptist- segregation, Johnny Vandervert – junior HS, Met Manse Lipscomb, Loved the blues, When they burned a cross down the street in his neighborhood, Oak Cliff- it was a rural place back then, He went crazy and disapproved of that, MLK, Kennedy was shot, Participated in marches, Hill Crest Baptist Church, They refused to let a black family in the church, So Murphey and a few other boys walked out and vowed to never return, Marches- We Shall Over Come, Coffee Houses, Odetta, Radical folk people, Theodore Bikel, Alabama, Did a few marches in Alabama, He snuck out, His grandfather did not speak to him for a year, Not his granddaddy, the other grandpa, Reverend Reeb got shot, One of six white kids who marched, Intentionally marched the route where Kennedy was shot, Hometown Hootenanny, His television show, His first song was “We Shall over Come”, Death threats were flowing in, The producer kept him on, Murphey took that with him the rest of his life, The show ran for two summers, It launched his career, His grandfather did not become friends with him again, Until they got in a wreck and Murphy helped them, His grandpa told him “Even though you don’t like George Wallace, You’re an o.k. kid”, Goodnight college, Charlie Goodnight, Only wanted to educate women, Children learn from mothers, Husbands learn from wives, Brothers learn from Sisters, Friends, Not your friends in high school, There were a few wanderers, Some of his friends hung around his night club, When Kennedy was shot, Murphy’s mom was at the parade, He was in North Texas at that point, 1963, First year in school, He drove home and went to check on his mom, Bob Livingston, He showed up at the beginning of the tape, But is starting to talk now, Thesis, Andy thinks that the Texas music scene came, Greatly from the two of them, Murphey, Seigle (Frye) taught him how to finger pick, Hitch hiked around Texas, Played a lot in Austin, Moved there eventually, Janis Joplin played at a gas station which is Threadgill's, Texans, “Texas the dark corner of the confederacy”, It made since to have long hair and like hillbilly music, California, Bob is talking, Met Three Faces West in Red River, They played Mike Murphey songs, Wild Fire was written already, Randy Fred- agent, Livingston got a record deal, Ledbetter’s club, Livingston moved up to Right wing, CA, Tex – Band, Herb Steiner, Stony Stelman- Drummer from Oklahoma, Boomer Castleman- guitar with his boomerizer add on, Used alias names, The Lewis and Clark Expedition- before Bob Livingston, Burrito Brothers, The first cosmic cowboys, Livingston’s deal fell through, Calvin Black- Calico Cal, Folk art- dolls made out of desert driftwood, Introduced him to Murphey, That’s when he wrote Ballad de Calico, Man came up from town, Texas, They went back to Texas, Bob learned how to play bass, 1969-70, Mountain Music Farm, Murphey, Guy Clark, Livingston, And someone else, Made a demo, Capital Records, Woman bass player, Roger Miller, Llama Govenda, Tibetan Buddhist, German man, He was going to meet the Hopi Indians, They played Gospel songs for him, “It is no secret what God will do”, “I’ll fly away”, “Amazing Grace”, Ring of Life – song was written that night in the hotel, Cachinoes – artifacts, Navajos and Hopi’s were arguing about war – WWII, Texas, Bob Johnston, R.A Caldwell, This is when Murphey did the Ballad of Calico, Johnston loved it, Texas Morning, West Texas Highway, Right Wing Republican, Murphey and Pot, Travis Holland- Texas Genesis, He tried it once, and got so worked up, Once took a hit and it was laced with PCP, Hill on the Moon- City Park Road/ Austin, The last time he ever did drugs, Couldn’t hang with ¾ of the people in Austin, At the time, Cosmic moments, Nashville- 1st deal, Quarto, Couldn’t find Johnston’s house, Tom Klicka- the Rainbow man, Bob Johnston lived at Rainbow place, On Caldwell lane, Johnston, First hippie redneck they knew, New York, Cosmic Cowboy, Murphey had throat surgery, Couldn’t talk or sing for months, If he did he would never sound the way he did, Cosmic Cowboy, Every one was re-cutting his songs, Did not ask him, just did it, He got fed up and went to Denver, Livingston’s View, Liked it when people re-cut his songs, Michael Murphey, The third album, Came back to Texas to make that record, Mini greyhounds- Whippets, He sang a song – goodbye Austin, Texas, Carpet Baggers, Playing on Lamar st. on a Saturday night, You would get a record deal, Willie Nelson became the top man, Jerry Jeff, No hits, All gigs were packed, Did Guy Clark songs, Redneck Rockers, Had a respect that they were from the South, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Texas doesn’t have a Texas Music Museum, Tejano, George Strait Music in Spanish, Johnny Rodriguez, Eddie Fender, Ricky Trevino, Richie Valens, La Bamba, Buddy Holly movie- Gary Busey
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https://swco-ir.tdl.org/handle/10605/309780
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