A Michael Martin Murphey concert provides an interesting mix: a bit of cowboy poetry, a lot of Old West history and a virtual feast of fine music. And the program was never richer than when he joined the Sagebrush Symphony (actually musicians from the Utah Symphony) in a special show to kick off the Festival of the American West, which starts later this week in Logan.
Abravanel Hall was filled, literally, to the rafters with an enthusiastic but well-behaved crowd that included everyone from little kids to senior citizens. And they got their money's worth.He started the show with a symphonic medley of popular western tunes like "The Yellow Rose of Texas," then slipped into the poem "Backward Turn Backward" and flowed right on through to his humorous and immensely popular "Cowboy Logic."
Nearly all of Murphey's songs and those he "borrows" from other writers of the distant past and the present tell stories of love or struggle or taming the land. And it's impossible to listen without learning about the forces that shape the western United States.
His voice was as smooth as whipped egg whites on "Tumbling Tumbleweed" (written by Bob Nolan, Sons of the Pioneers, and made famous by Gene Autry in the 1936 movie "Singing Cowboy"). That same voice was rough and raspy for the 1910, extremely high-spirited hit "Horns, Hooves and a Tail (quite possibly the inspiration for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"). Other times, he sounded remarkably like Marty Robbins.
The symphony was wonderful throughout. Country music and a full symphony orchestra sound like an odd mix, but it's not. Murphey joked they should always play together so that symphonies can get culture. The truth is, both benefit from the combination. With Robert Henderson conducting, the symphony created a storm - complete with wind and thunder and lightning - that sent shivers through the audience for "Ghost Riders in the Sky." According to legend, Murphey said, clouds were really ghost riders thundering through.
The standbys that made Murphey popular were there as well: "Wildfire," "Carolina in the Pines" and "Geronimo's Cadillac."
Murphey's clear love of both cowboys and Indians is contagious; had he been around, they likely would not have fought each other.
He closed the nearly two-hour show with "Happy Trails," the song that Dale Evans wrote for her little girl, who had Down's syndrome and died as a toddler. While many people believe it's an old cowboy song, it was at that time an anthem for parents who had mentally disabled children because Roy Rogers and Dale Evans talked about their little girl.
Music never sounded better in Abravanel Hall. Every word, every musical note was distinct, without the overpowering volume that has ruined so many concerts.