Earl Murphy - Athens Music Legend Remembering Athens Musician Earl Murphy Julie Phillips - Sunday, March 27, 2011 onlineathens/stories/032711/liv_805965269.shtml Thanks Art Rosenbaum. Earl Murphy once joked with his daughter, Mary Carlson that it took until he was in his 90s to become famous. But fame, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The renowned fiddle player who died March 12 at the age of 93 earned a prominent name for himself in old-time music circles from the Midwest to the Southeast, with accolades and awards at numerous festivals and competitions. He won his first contest in Missouri at age 12. His music was featured in the recordings of music historian Art Rosenbaum on the 2008 Grammy-winning Art of Field Recording Volume 1. And in Athens, he took the stage with his grandson, violinist/fiddler Andy Carlsons bands that included the likes of country star John Berry and a slew of young musicians who loved him and called him Grandpa, just like Andy did. A heart attack claimed Murphys life while he still was in the swing of playing, with shows scheduled into May, including another appearance on The Mountain Music and Medicine Show, which is recorded in Dahlonega for radio broadcast on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Hes irreplaceable, said Charlie Hartness, an Athens musician who with his wife, Nancy Hartness, spent a good deal of time with Murphy playing locally and at festivals over the past five years or so. Hes one of the last of the true old-time fiddle players, he added, noting Murphys style was lyrical and melodic; he wrapped Western swing, blues and Cowboy licks into his playing. He appealed to a lot of people who werent necessarily into old-time music, Hartness said. And for people who were familiar with the music - such as those in attendance at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Wash., where the Hartnesses accompanied Murphy several years ago - They ate him up, Charlie said. At Merlefest in North Carolina last spring, at the age of 92, Murphy earned a Lifetime Achievement Award. Murphy was famous indeed, just like hed joked with his daughter. He was very proud of that, she said. Hard times, easy tunes Mary Carlson compares a photograph of her fathers family taken during the Great Depression to The Grapes of Wrath. Born June 21, 1917, in Saline County, Mo., Murphy grew up poor, the second of six children. But the stories Mary heard from her dad were about the good times. He never complained, she said. Murphys father, Walter, was a fiddler; he carried his fiddle in a flour sack. Murphys older brother Jack was a great fiddler, too. When Earl was too small to pick up a fiddle, he danced to the tunes his family played. He first got his hands on a fiddle at about age 8 - and learned guitar around the same time. He won that first fiddle contest at 12. And in between he played at peoples houses, dances, churches and barns and anywhere he had a chance. Murphy learned by ear, and stored up those tunes one by one. In 2006, Andy Carlson decided to catalog his grandpas tunes, so he set up a few mics in Murphys kitchen (his preferred place to play) and in one session recorded Murphy playing more than 90 songs. His ability to memorize and recall tunes was phenomenal, Andy Carlson said. And he could play for four or five hours straight - he was the last guy standing in a jam session. Some of those songs Murphy learned in the 1930s, when he moved out to Boise, Idaho, to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. He picked up swing and Cowboy-style playing, just as those styles were being developed, noted Andy Carlson, now a music professor at Denison University in Ohio. Andy - who learned the instrument from his grandpa, has won numerous awards and competitions, and himself has been described as a demon fiddler - teaches classes ranging from classical violin to the roots of fiddling that reach back to his grandfathers and great-grandfathers playing. A career in music wasnt in the cards for Murphy, though; his father needed him on the farm. Back in Missouri, he married Frances Davenport in 1939, and later moved with her to Moline, Ill., where they raised their daughter, Mary, and Earl worked as a security guard for International Harvester for 40 years. He still made time for music, though, playing in honky tonks and even making appearances on local television over the years. Athens gets Earl In 1989, Earl and Frances Murphy moved to Athens to be closer to their only child, Mary Carlson, whod moved here in 1983 with husband, Ron Carlson, a law professor at the University of Georgia, and their two sons, Andy and Michael. Even before the Murphys moved to Athens, Andy Carlson would ask his grandpa to play with him in his high school bands during visits - and then straight through his musical endeavors during college at UGA, where Andy earned his bachelors and masters of music degrees. After all, it was Murphy who taught Andy his first tunes on the banjo at the age of 5, playing simple songs for Andy to play back to him. Murphy made appearances with the likes of Strung Jury, the Normaltown Flyers, Southern Crescent and In Cahoots in the late 80s and early 90s at clubs like Sparkys, The Rockfish Palace, the Georgia Theatre and later, The Melting Point and Little Kings. Mary Carlson remembers her dad would say, They play so late, and my mom would make him take a nap and say Now you go on and play with that boy! And play he did. Aided, as his friends fondly recall, by a little swig of Jack Daniels, Murphy would await his time to join the band on stage from the audience. Our cue to get Grandpa on stage, Andy remembered with a laugh, was wed play the opening bars of Peter Gunn, and sing, Grandpaaa ... Graaaandpaaa... A musical legacy Along the way, Murphy met and befriended many musicians. People from around the area, or who were just passing through town would pay him a visit. Not only was he a great musician, he was an easy-going, fun person to be around, his friends said. And if he really liked you, hed invite you to play in his kitchen, said Hartness, who played his ukulele with Murphy nearly every week in Murphys kitchen jam sessions. His playing was very high caliber - he had a really dynamic, driving musical style, Hartness added. Earl comes up pretty near the top in that style of playing, Art Rosenbaum said of Murphys musical talent, adding he enjoyed Murphys friendship and sharing tunes in Murphys kitchen, too. Its a style Murphys grandson, even as a classically trained violinist, can play pretty much identically to his grandpa. It warms his moms heart. And its something Andy said is important to him to pass on. Grandpa was learning those early music styles right when that music was being born, he said. Today in an era when you can hear anything from anytime, everything sounds the same. But in his time, regions had an effect on the music. I talk about Grandpa a lot in teaching, Andy added. Hes the reason Im doing what Im doing today. Im where I am because of him.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 00:11:39 +0000
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