"A truly great voice doing a pure blues album. Heaven!"
- BOB SEGER
"She brings heart and soul to the stage"
- COCO MONTOYA
"Shaun's one of my favorite singers"
- BONNIE RAITT
"A voice that's a gift from the heavens"
- JIMMY HALL
So sad on this first note with the passing the one of THE greatest: Etta James, may she finally rest in peace after a long haul in these last days..we'll certainly miss her.
Things are just starting to heat up on the home front. Gigs coming in, and I can't wait to get back out on the road with my guys and burn up the trail!
I still need mucho help with requests to your favorite radio and internet stations, don't be shy, if I can get to your town, I certainly will, but did you know that radio is the biggest help in that regard?
I wanted to remind you all how excited I am to have another video ready for you to watch and pass around to all your friends from my new live DVD: Shaun Murphy, Live At Callahan's. It's got a couple of my favorite singer friends in it, that I've had the pleasure of working with these past few months; Laura Creamer and Barbara Payton guesting...wow, they sing like angels, and I'm so happy to have been able to include them in this soiree. Check it out as I will have the youtube link available several places!
More later,
Shaun
Shaun found her way to the Blues stage in 1969 at the first Ann Arbor Blues Fest, and was completely smitten. Getting to play at such an important milestone festival must have had her head spinning. That was her awakening to the Blues, and she couldn’t have been among a better line-up: Son House, Muddy Waters, BB King, Freddy King, Lightin’ Hopkins, and the list went on and on.
Solidified into the Detroit music scene, she found her calling, but it was to be a bit illusive, while she continued her music education over the years, starting with such notables as; Bob Seger, in 73 with the Recording of Katmandu, under the pseudonym, Stoney. She worked with Bob and his band, The Borneo Band, along with some of the Silver Bullet boys, Chris Campbell, Alto Reed, and Drew Abbott, and throw in a couple of Tulsa boys: Jamie Oldaker and Dick Sims.
When Bob decided to take a different direction she was free to pursue another of her loves, acting, where she was able to snag two different life changing musical plays: Hair and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band On The Road. Appearing in both of the Broadway productions, as well as a number of other run of the play casts. Having been in Hair afforded her the opportunity to land a recording contract with Motown Records, along with Meatloaf, to record the album Stoney And Meatloaf.
Right after the recording of the record, Motown moved out to Los Angeles and Shaun went with them. After a short stay in LA, she then headed back to the music scene she was so familiar with, Detroit. She got back in touch with Seger’s manager, Punch Andrews, and it just so happened, Bob was, again, looking for a singer. She started working with Bob immediately on the road. By then, the Silver Bullet Band was pretty much intact and she’s been touring with Bob constantly since 78.
Taking some time off the road, she was contacted by an old friend, Marcy Levy, (of Leon Russell and Eric Clapton fame) that Eric Clapton was doing a record with Phil Collins producing, and would she be interested in coming to Montserrat to record the BGs on his Behind The Sun album. The experience was thrilling, to get back to her roots, and with the ‘guitar god’ himself. She, of course, said yes! With the volcano steaming in the background, near the studio, worrisome to say the least, they recorded this great record, and after the second song, Eric asked her is she’d like to do the tour, well, you can only imagine the walking on air feelings she must have had. One of her extreme idols was gong to be a band mate, too good to be true. To sit on and off stage for the next three tours and listen to the golden tones that came off his guitar was almost too much. Later there was even another, although short lived tour in Canada. She will always be thankful for the experience, and the grace of Mr. Clapton.
Back on the road with Seger, with hardly a couple of weeks off from Clapton, with his 86 tour, she met up with Bill Payne and Fred Tackett, two of the members of the legendary band Little Feat. As tours go, making friends comes easy and when the tour was over, Bill Payne asked Shaun and Bob to sing some things on their new re-grouped band’s CD, Let It Roll. As it happened, Shaun had moved back out to LA, and when Feat recorded their next CD, Representing The Mambo, she was asked to come in for more backgrounds, as well as the next, Shake Me Up.
She went on to tour with Seger to the present, with some other tours here and there along the way, with such notables as Bruce Hornsby, Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey with Television appearances with John Hiatt and Herbie Hancock.
She found herself back in Feat camp after the singer, Craig Fuller, left the band, and they asked her to join as a full member, which she did without a bat of the eye. Seeing all of her favorite genres, wrapped into one with these boys, she couldn’t have been happier, and for the next 15 years, it was her home. Till recently parting with her long time cohorts, she then realized, she’d come full circle back to where she started, in the world of the Blues, wanting to take her place along side some of her favorite idols; Koko Taylor, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, and Big Maybelle, paying special homage to Miss Taylor and Miss James on her first solo CD
She came back the next year with a powerful new CD; Trouble With Lovin’Bio. Combining a litany of Blue themes, as well as some notable friends stopping by to lend a gracious hand. None other than Mike Finnigan, playing on the title track, Trouble With Lovin and playing and singing a duet on Hopelessly In Love With You. Johnny Neel playing and singing on four tracks; Deservin Of Love, Blue Tears, Did You Call, and The Blues Don’t Tell It All. Not to be outdone, her good friend, Danny Pelfrey on alto sax on Deservin’ Of Love.
Nominated for Best New Artist by Bluesblast for her first CD, Livin The Blues, she’s carrying the torch into a new year with a stunning second CD, Trouble With Lovin’.
Having come off a Bob Seger tour in the Spring of 2011, she felt that Detroit was where she’d set her sites for this third CD, along with a DVD, both ‘Live At Callahan’s’, one of Detroit’s premier Blues clubs, and snagged some of her favorite pals; Laura Creamer, Barbara Payton, and last, but not least: The Motor City Horns to fill out some fav’s and a bunch of new tunes.
Feb. 17th: Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa, FL
May 11th: The Fling Barn, Hillsboro, OH
May 25th: Hippie Jacks Music Festival,
Crawford, TN
June 2nd: Smokin-in-Steele Festival Owatonna, MN
June 30th: Blues From The Top Festival
Winter Park, CO
July 13th: Kalamazoo Blues Festival
Kalamazoo, MI
