MICHAEL MARTIN MURPHEY’S “COWBOY CHRISTMAS” COMES TO BRENHAM

  

No Santa Claus. No reindeer. No Frosty the Snowman. Michael Martin Murphey’s picturesque Christmas comes decorated by wide open blue skies, rows of snow-dusted pines, a warmly lit log cabin and a flickering campfire.michael-martin-murphey

Murphey’s treasured Cowboy Christmas concerts, a tradition now more than two decades strong, explores the humanity and spirituality of the season. It delves into the American heritage of Christmas organically and universally. It strips down the highly commercial holiday to its bare essentials in an effort to present a richer, more rewarding experience for the audience.

Murphey will ride into Brenham, Texas with his 2016 Cowboy Christmas Tour on Saturday, December 3 at The Barnhill Center at Historic Simon (111 W. Main Street) for two shows (3:00 pm and 8:00 pm). Tickets begin at$45. For more information, call 979-836-6980 or visit http://thebarnhillcenter.com/events.

Murphey says he tries to encourage people to think of the spirit of giving, charity and forgiving- which is the spirit of Christmas.

The genesis of Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas harks back to Anson, Texas in 1885. That was the date and place of the first Cowboys’ Christmas Ball, a festive celebration that found native New Yorker and newly arrived Anson resident Larry Chittenden so inspired by the dancing and merriment he witnessed that he penned a poem titled “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.” His six-stanza verse has been set to music and remains a traditional Western signpost of the holidays.

To commemorate his love of Western music and his hearth-warmed affection for yuletide tunes, Murphey recorded three thematic holiday albums, 1991’s Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II, 1999’s Acoustic Christmas Carols, and 2002’s Cowboy Christmas III. He’s parlayed his passion for the Cowboy Christmas shows by writing the foreword for Paul H. Carlson’s Dancin’ In Anson: A History of the Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball published by Texas Tech University Press.

Murphey never forgets Anson. His Cowboy Christmas Tour heads to the West Texas city on Dec. 15, 2016.

Preserving the beauty of the West, the true cowboy culture, and the sonic tapestry of Western music has been a lifelong mission for this Dallas native. Murphey soaked up the cowboy experience while growing up in Oak Cliff by venturing off to his grandfather’s ranches in Rockwall and Fairfield, Texas during weekends and summers.

He would bring that Western sensibility to his music starting with the cosmic cowboy movement in the early ‘70s, and then encompassing his huge 1975 pop hit “Wildfire” as well as his hit-making ‘80s period in mainstream country. He later came full circle with his acclaimed forays into cowboy music, the Cowboy Songs series in the 1990s, and the more recent bluegrass opuses such as 2009’s Buckaroo Blue Grass and 2010’s Buckaroo Blue Grass II.

Murphey’s new album, High Stakes: Cowboy Songs VII, speaks directly to his love of the western way of life, largely praising and extolling its importance in our world. “It may sound like an oxymoron, but  ‘Cowboy Culture’ is real and relevant,” Murphey says. “I celebrate men and women who love Dirt, Grass and Water.“Truth is, cowboys and cowgirls can save the planet.”

It is that theme that is central to his popular Cowboy Christmas show.  “It’s not lost on me that the angels first announced the birth of Christ to the Shepherds, who were the cowboys of their day,” Murphey laughs.  “I’ve always considered that very significant.”

His expansive attitude covers the panoramic Western terrain like Picasso, Monet and Dali embraced canvas and easel. Like all artists with the power of expression, Murphey has transformed the personal into the universal. He brings the noble purity of the West to the most commercialized holiday. No Santa Claus needed.

 

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