Matt "Guitar" Murphy
| Matt Murphy | |
|---|---|
Murphy in New York City, 2011
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew Tyler Murphy |
| Also known as | Matt "Guitar" Murphy |
| Born |
December 29, 1929 Sunflower, Mississippi, United States |
| Origin | Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | Blues |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1948–present |
| Labels | Antone's, Roesch, Bluzpik |
| Associated acts | The Blues Brothers, Howlin' Wolf |
Matthew Tyler Murphy (born December 29, 1929), known as Matt "Guitar" Murphy, is an American blues guitarist.
Murphy was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, and was educated in Memphis, where his father worked at the Peabody Hotel. Murphy learned to play guitar when he was a child. In 1948 he moved to Chicago, where he joined the Howlin' Wolf band, which at the time featured Little Junior Parker.
Murphy worked a lot with Memphis Slim, including on his album At the Gate of Horn (1959). Murphy did not have a band of his own until 1982 but did work in the studio and on stage with many musicians, including Ike Turner, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Otis Rush, Etta James, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Chuck Berry and Joe Louis Walker.
He gave a memorable performance in 1963 on the American Folk Blues Festival tour of Europe with his "Matt's Guitar Boogie".Freddie King is said to have once admitted that he based his "Hide Away" on Murphy's playing during this performance. (King originally recorded "Hide Away" 3 years earlier, on 1960.08.26, and also said it was based on Hound Dog Taylor's "Taylor's Boogie." No version of "Matt's Guitar Boogie" is seen on Memphis Slim or other albums with Matt before "Hide Away.")
In 1978, Murphy joined the Blues Brothers. He appeared in the films The Blues Brothers (1980) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), playing the husband of Aretha Franklin. He performed with the Blues Brothers Band until the early 2000s.
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