Jim
Murphy from Keene, NH
Jim
started playing guitar at age 12, inspired by his older
brother, also a guitarist. With friends from his Long
Island high school, he formed a rock band called the
Rogues that had a steady gig at The Mod, a local club
where such groups as the Young Rascals and Billy Joel
and his band played before he became famous. Jim moved
to New Hampshire to study art and became an accomplished
landscape painter. Years later, his son Jeff revived his
interest in playing out when the younger Murphy took up
the bass at age 12. Jim and son started going to the
legendary Rynborn blues club in Antrim and began
performing together when Jeff was still in his teens.
They performed for years, in New England area, as a acoustic
blues duo. Eventually they recruited other
musicians on drums, keyboards and saxophone. With a few
changes in the line-up, that band eventually became
Murphy's Blues. They had a steady gig every month at
Rynborn after it moved to Keene until the club shut down
in 2006. In 2008, Murphy's Blues became the house band
at the EF Lane Hotel in Keene and performs there
monthly. Jim also started a blues jam on Thursday nights
and books the talent for weekend shows. Jeff recently
left the band to form the indie-Americana band Lonesome
Lake, but Jim and Murphy's Blues rock on, and Jim's
brother still plays country blues up and down the coast
of Maine.
A
2004 article about Jim
and Jeff Murphy |
|