We had such a fun time recently! Mike and I went to Red River, NM to attend a Michael Martin Murphey Concert and it was great! He sings at the Rocking 3M Chuckwagon 2 nights a week every July and August. His warm-up singer was Carin Mari; she was also a very talented songwriter and singer.
The venue is beautiful. It is on private property a few miles out of Red River, in the mountains by a pond. We were first fed a nice meal under a big tent structure. Even with the show being sold out, it was still a small, intimate setting. We were in the 2nd row, right in the middle. Perfect!
Let me back up a bit...like over 50 years. My brother was a fan of Michael Murphey (back then he didn't use his middle name). Through exposure to the music my brother played, I also became a fan. I loved "Wildfire" and "Carolina in the Pines". Since then, he has just kept cranking out great songs.
Over 30 years ago, Mike and I took Maria and Ben along the first time we heard him in concert. It was at the fairgrounds in Lewistown, MT. Ben, age 4 at the time, heard that Michael was giving autographs afterward. I didn't want to wait, as many were crowding around, but for Ben, I did it. It was just a mess, no particular line. It was hard to get his attention. But when I said that I was a Murphey, too, also spelled MurphEy, his attention turned to me. He asked a lot of questions about where my Murphey side of the family came from. Then, he signed on the piece of paper I was holding, "To the Murpheys! Michael Martin Murphey." I guess I hadn't quite got around to telling him I had a different last name now.
I have to tell you the best part of this story, though, occurred as we walked away. It became apparent that Ben didn't know what an autograph was, just that if this guy was giving something away, he wanted it. When I handed the paper to Ben he said, "What good is that? It is just a stupid piece of paper that's wroted on!" He didn't want it, but I still have it.
The 2nd time we saw Michael Martin Murphey in concert was in Casper, WY. It was also a small, intimate setting and we got to visit with him afterward. That was at a time when we had our first cell phone. I wanted a photo to send to my brother so Mike took one with the cell phone, with Michael Martin Murphey's arm around me. When we got out to our car I opened the cell phone to see it. It wasn't there. Back then, if you didn't hit SAVE before closing the flip phone, no photo was saved. I was bummed.
I was ready this time! We bought one of his t-shirts before his concert, just for my brother. Afterward, when I went for the autograph, I also had pulled up the screenshot from my brother's Facebook page that included his name. I asked Michael Martin Murphey to sign the shirt for my brother and showed him the screenshot, making some dumb comment about wanting to be sure he spelled it correctly. It took him a second, but then he realized what he was looking at and he laughed. For those of you who don't know, my brother's name is... Michael Murphey. There are many Murphys in the world, but it is rare to meet another spelled with the "E".
Michael (singer) again asked a few questions and we agree we could be related, but didn't have enough information to know. He then graciously agreed to another photo. Mike (husband) was ready but Michael's road manager had Mike also get in the photo and he took several for us. We didn't lose them this time!
I will publish this post, hopefully, about the time my brother gets an unexpected package in the mail.
Thanks for reading!
