Michael Martin Murphey/Biography

==Early life==
Michael Martin Murphey was born on March 14, 1945, in the Oak Cliff section of Dalls, Texas, the son of Pink and Lois (Corbett) Murphey. He grew up in Dallas, Texas. His love of the outdoors began at an early age when his parents took him and his brother Mark (who was three years Michael's junior) on regular trips to the country to visit relatives. When he was six years old, Murphey started riding horses on gis grandfather's and uncle's ranches. Years later he would remember sleeping on his grandfather's porch under the stars listening to the older man's stories and cowboy songs. He also enjoyed being around these men of the land as they went about their work. These experiences made a deep impression on the young boy.
During these early years, Murphey developed a special love for cowboy songs and stories. He was also an avid reader, especially drawn to the books of Mark Twain and William Faulkner. As a youth, he enjoyed writing poetry and loved listening to his uncle's old 78 rpm records - particularly the music of country and folk artists such as Hank Williams, Bob Wills, and Woody Guthrie. In junior high school, he began performing as an amateur, and later as a camp counselor at a summer camp called "Sky Ranch". At the age of seventeen, he took his first "professional" music job, playing western songs around a campfire at a Texas ranch. By the early 1960s, Murphey was playing the clubs in Dallas, performing country music, folk music, and rock music. He won over the conservative Texas audiences with his charm and talent, and soon formed a band that developed a significant following in the Dallas area.
==Songwriting success==
After graduating from W. H. Adamson High School in Oak Cliff, Murphey studied Greek at the University of North Texas and joined the Folk Music Club where he met Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Spencer Perskin, and Eddie Wilson - co-founder of Armadillo World Headquarters. Murphey then moved to California, where he studied creative writing at the the University of California at Los Angeles, majoring in medieval history and literature. He signed a publishing contract with the Sparrow Music company, and soon he made a name for himself in the Los Angeles folk music scene. By 1964, he formed a musical group with an old Texas friend, Michael Nesmith, John London, and John Raines, under the name the Trinity River Boys.
Category:Michael Martin Murphey
Category:Biography