James Murphy’s primary instrument is the bass. Growing up in Redford, Michigan, his first foray into the music scene came in the mid-‘90s with the sometimes alternative, sometimes classic rock band Love Chile. James honed his skills later with the Motor City Blues Burners, then with the alternative rock project Drinking Water.
Prior to buying a Takamine acoustic bass and joining Murrow’s Boys, James filled in with the punk band Gone Awry. He regularly plays with the Emmanuel Lutheran Church house band in Livonia.
Despite his experience, James describes his musical career thus far as fun, yet unfulfilled.
“But it has allowed me to become fluent in several different styles of music,” James said.
In Murrow’s Boys, James splits his time between bass and guitar while sharing vocal duties.
“I don’t write songs on the bass,” James said. “And I don’t set out saying ‘I’m gonna write a song now. I have some ideas in my head and just start playing around. For me, the music comes first, lyrics later.”
Brothers Ken and Greg Marten began making music together more than 20 years ago in their hometown of Mt. Pleasant, MI. Greg played guitar and Ken the drums in a series of post-punk garage bands, the most successful being the ConFessions.
After the ConFessions split up and the brothers moved to Hamtramck, Greg was a founding member of several underground Detroit bands including the Freemasons, dog-swing and Grout. He toured the Midwest several times, as well as the East Coast & South, sharing gigs with groups such as Goober and the Peas, Nervo-beats, Glenrustles, Big Wheel, Bouncing Souls, Lifetime, Shotmaker, Spitboy, and Citizen Fish. dog-swing and Grout released a series of now rare vinyl discs on Uprising Records, a label Greg formed with a long-time friend. (Incidentally, Uprising was one of the first labels to have a web site in the early 1990s.) In the mid-1990s Grout toured the eastern U.S. in a decommissioned ambulance, and also had a 7” record released by Hamburg, Germany’s Company with the Golden Arm.
Upon tiring of the D-I-Y punk scene, Greg sharpened his skills on mandolin by learning traditional Eastern European folk tunes and writing originals of the same vein.
Ken filled in for a handful of dog-swing gigs after the original drummer moved out-of-state for grad school. He then dropped the drumsticks in favor of the harmonica.
“My usual laugh line about leaving the drums is that I got tired of sitting down,” Ken quipped. “But I recently put together a kit just to mess around in the basement, and I play some percussion with Murrow’s Boys. That just goes to show that your past, musical or otherwise, is never far behind.”
Beginning in the mid-‘90s, Ken thrived in the Detroit blues scene through 2006 with the Greyhounds, Blue Town Union, Barrelhouse Duel and Blues in the City. He's shared the stage with Michigan notables like Jeff Maylin, Bob Hinchcliffe, and Myk Rise. Ken's biggest blues thrill came in 1998, when he and the Greyhounds backed up blues harp legend Lazy Lester, at the King Brewing Company 3-year anniversary celebration in Pontiac, MI.
The music of Murrow’s Boys is a departure from amplified alt-rock, folk and blues, yet retains dashes of all three genres. The dynamics remain, but without the volume. No musician can completely shed himself of his seasoning.
Greg and James write the music, with Ken adding his own parts. All three chip in with lyrics that tell stories about society and the human condition. The songs have messages but don’t preach or politicize.
“The songs are like salt,” James said. “Too much salt spoils the meal, but just enough enhances the taste – hopefully enough to entice a second helping.”
The band’s name is a tribute to groundbreaking CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, known since the 1950's as “the conscience of TV news.” The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago calls Murrow “the most distinguished and renowned figure in the history of American broadcast journalism.”
Murrow’s career at the CBS Radio Network started in 1935. As its European correspondent and news chief, he covered the rise of fascism and World War II. Murrow made daring rooftop broadcasts during the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz in 1940, when that country stood alone against Nazi Germany and the nightly terror of the Luftwaffe.
Of course, Murrow couldn’t be everywhere the action was, and he recruited a flock of newsmen and women to cover the war. These broadcast journalists were known as “Murrow’s Boys,” and adopted his passion for incisive and insightful coverage. Under Murrow’s leadership, they set high standards for broadcast journalism on the radio and later on television.
In 1950, Murrow became the host and co-producer (with Fred Friendly) of radio’s “Hear It Now.” It morphed into television’s boldest news and public affairs show, “See it Now,” which ran 1950-58, again with Murrow and Friendly sharing the role of producer.
Murrow’s broadcasts were frequently concerned with basic democratic principles like the pursuit of truth, tolerance, free speech and the preservation of individual liberties and human rights. With the benefit of 50 years of hindsight, it’s shocking to discover how often segments of society misunderstood, ignored or discarded these principles. Murrow’s most famous telecast, a controversial expose on demagogic Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s horrific tactics that exploited and spread the 1950s Red Scare, is the capstone of his vision.
“See It Now” won three Emmy Awards for Best News or Public Service Program. Murrow also received four individual Emmys for Best News Commentator or Analyst. He also hosted “Person to Person,” which ran 1953-59, and moderated “Small World,” 1958-60.
Ever watchful of his own medium and never one to shy away from conflict, Murrow began to loathe what he perceived to be television’s degradation. He lambasted the industry in 1958, calling it “fat, comfortable, and complacent.”
Testing the patience of too many CBS executives and sponsors, the network began to phase Murrow out of its newscasts. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Murrow to run the U.S. Information Agency, where he remained until 1964. Murrow died on April 27, 1965, two days after his 57th birthday.
This musical group hopes to advance Murrow’s agenda in its own minute way by writing songs about society and the human condition, applauding its achievements and successes, deploring its failures and excesses.
