Sunflower, Mississippi-born blues guitarist is best known for his role in the movie, Blues Brothers (yes, he was Aretha Franklin's hen-pecked husband). He certainly wasn't in the movie because of his acting ability! Nope, it was his guitar abilities ("... one of the true guitar innovators of American blues." says Blues Revue) that landed him the part. He plays almost once a month in Chicago, but he's always a good draw. After taking up the guitar at the age of 13, Murphy worked through his 20s with Howlin' Wolf's band, Little Junior Parker, & Ike Turner's The Flames. In 1952, Memphis Slim persuaded him to move Chicago to play with his band (which he did for 20 years). Thereafter, Murphy played with James Cotton, and did Chess Records session work backing Otis Rush, Etta James, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Chuck Berry.
In 1977, while playing with James Cotton's band in NYC, Dan Akroyd & John Belushi (of Saturday Night Live fame) approached Murphy, and asked him to join the band they were forming. He's played with them ever since, and has led his own band since 1982.
You can find his recent recording The Blues Don't Bother Me on Roesch Records, and his 1990 recording Way Down South on Antone's Records.
You can also hear him playing on a track of Joe Louis Walker's most recent album, Great Guitars.
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