Daniel David Murphy (born July 12, 1962 in

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...

) is an American musician best known as a co-founder lead guitarist for the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band,

Soul Asylum Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The band was originally called Loud Fast Rules, with a lineup consisting of D ...

from 1981 to 2012. He is also a member of Golden Smog.

History

Murphy was the secondary songwriter in Soul Asylum, with Dave Pirner responsible for writing most of the band's material. Some of Murphy's solo writing credits include "Can't Go Back" from '' Made to Be Broken'', "Cartoon" off '' Hang Time'' and "Gullible's Travels" from ''

And the Horse They Rode in On or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar, and computing * Conjunction (grammar), connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a boolea ...

''. Additionally, he and Pirner co-wrote "Easy Street" which appeared on ''And the Horse They Rode in On'', and he co-wrote "Promises Broken" off ''

Let Your Dim Light Shine ''Let Your Dim Light Shine'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Soul Asylum, released June 6, 1995 on Columbia Records. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, '' Grave Dancers Union'', the band's breakout release. ...

'' with Marc Perlman. In 1988, Murphy formed Golden Smog, a Minneapolis

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

made up of members of The Replacements,

The Jayhawks The Jayhawks are an American alternative country and country rock band that emerged from the Twin Cities music scene in the mid-1980s. Led by vocalists/guitarists/songwriters Gary Louris and Mark Olson (musician), Mark Olson, their country rock ...

and Run Westy Run. Murphy was credited as 'David Spear' on the group's second album, ''Down by the Old Mainstream'', because of contractual obligations. In 1992, Murphy appeared on the debut solo album by former Replacements drummer

Chris Mars Chris Mars (born April 26, 1961) is an American painter and musician. He was the percussionist, drummer for the seminal Minneapolis based alternative-rock band The Replacements (band), The Replacements from 1979 to 1990, and later joined the inf ...

, '' Horseshoes and Hand Grenades''. Soul Asylum's success in the early 1990s gave Murphy the funds to start collecting pin-up art. This interest led to the opening of his own art gallery, the Grapefruit Moon Gallery, in 2003. On October 9, 2012, Murphy announced his departure from Soul Asylum on the forum of "EnterTheSoulAsylum.com". In his announcement, he explained that "To survive in the game of music...one needs an unhealthy and combustive internal combination of two seemingly distant attributes - naivety and swagger. I no longer have either..." He further stated that he "look dforward to a quieter life with friends and family". On the occasion of his retirement he donated his Gibson Les Paul guitar, which he had used on every Soul Asylum album, to the Minnesota Historical Society. Since 2012, he has focused on running Grapefruit Moon Gallery. In July 2019, Murphy reunited with members of Golden Smog for a one-off performance celebrating his 57th birthday. This performance was followed by the announcement of a Golden Smog show in April 2020. This latter performance has been postponed to an unspecified date due to COVID-19 concerns. In January 2020, Murphy started writing and recording new music with Jeff Arundel for a music project that will be released in 2021.

References

External links

* The Soul Asylu
Band records
are available for research use at th
Minnesota Historical Society.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Dan 1962 births Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists American alternative rock musicians Musicians from Duluth, Minnesota Columbia Records artists Alternative rock guitarists Lead guitarists Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists Soul Asylum members Golden Smog members 20th-century American male musicians