Not a lot of Twangville artists call New Jersey home. They may hail from there, but they make their way to Nashville or Austin or LA. For Dave Murphy though, the life and events that inspire the best country and folk songs had no problem finding him in the Garden State. Over the last couple of decades Murphy’s music has migrated from the brash chords of alt-country and garage-punk bands to the insightful and self-effacing songs that put him in the finalist stages of both the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival contests. He has a new album due out at the end of the month, A Heart So Rare, that showcases that songwriting talent.
Although Murphy and producer Chris Tarrow assembled a set of A-listers to play on the record, most of the cuts feature Murphy’s vocals and stories of woe that nonetheless portray the hope and confidence life will get better and redemption is just around the corner. After the Hurricane is a rock ballad with the obvious metaphor of a storm as a proxy for a relationship, and like all storms you know the hero will rebuild. One More Time features Murphy and Mark Erelli on their acoustic guitars and vocals in a story of the bard coming to a fork in the road and hoping for a last good run in life. Sonically, Red is the outlier on the album with its Pink Floyd-style intro in a reflection on how war colors our view of the world.
The song I kept coming back to is If I Could Fly. It’s a complex acoustic arrangement featuring a variety of guitars along with banjo and accordion in what I suppose is a folk rock number. Murphy notes he’s always had a fascination with birds, especially the migratory type who travel thousands of miles each year. But this is a story of grace and dignity, about living life to the fullest and being able to accept the end, and the better protagonist was a majestic red-tailed hawk. We’re so happy to be able to premiere this for you. Here is Dave Murphy’s If I Could Fly.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.