James,

Murphy's brief recording career was in the 1950s when he made a few recordings for Columbia and Victor. He was from Alabama and his influences were the blues records of Blind Boy Fuller, Leadbelly etc and the Opry. He was an excellent guitarist and his early recording career was promoted by Chet Atkins, another superlative guitarist. His commercial problem was that he did not fit neatly into either Nashville country or bluegrass and consequently faded into obscurity. All his 50s recordings have been collected together on a Bear Family CD: 'Sixteen Tons Rock 'N Roll' BCD 15451. In the 70s, he was 'rediscovered' and made an album, titled 'Electricity', for Sugar Hill with bluegrass musicians such as Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas. The CD I transcribed from (details given above) comprises the original 1978 Sugar Hill album plus additional tracks that were previously omitted because of time constraints. I was wrong in stating above that the 'Electricity' on the Sugar Hill CD was a reissue of his 1951 recording - it was a 'new' (ie 1978) recording - but the lyrics are identical. Murphy died in 1981. He was/is much admired as a guitarist and also for his fine hard-country voice. He is well worth a listen. If you are curious, get the Sugar Hill CD and, if impressed, work back to the Bear Family collection.

Cheers, Stewie.