Michael John Murphy is a folk musician based in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, Nebraska. He plays various instruments, including the guitar, piano, and

Native American flute The Native American flute is a flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes, and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound. The player breathes into one end of the ...

. He has been a singer songwriter based out of Omaha since the 1970s.

Music

His lyrics are often socially conscious or spiritual, and he uses personal stories and anecdotes in his shows. He has been writing songs since the 1970s, as noted by the lyrics to song, Liquor Stores, which begins: "I was working at a liquor store in July of '73". He started playing the Native American Flute in about 1983 after his mother, who had Native American ancestors, died.

Production and studio work

Murphy has worked with a number of other well known musicians, including

Brulé The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, ''Sicangu Lakota, o''r "Burnt T ...

Mark Holland Mark Holland (born October 16, 1974) is a Canadian politician who serves as the current leader of the Government in the House of Commons. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Liber ...

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team and promoters, consisting of brothers Matthew and Nicholas Massie, who are known by their ring names Matt and Nick Jackson, respectively. They are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW ...

, and Duane Martin, Sr. Murphy helped produce and does the instrumentation on Martin's 2010 project, Cante Tenza Olowan – Song for the Strong Hear

Activism

Michael has been involved with the Whiteclay Advisory Committee, a group of activists concerned about alcoholism on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and about the sale of alcohol on the border of the reservation in the town of

Whiteclay, Nebraska Whiteclay (Lakota language, Lakota: ''Makȟásaŋ''; "whiteish or yellowish clay") is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Sheridan County, Nebraska, Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The populatio ...

. Along with Canupa Gluha Mani, he performed and produced the music for The Battle for Whiteclay, a documentary about the Whiteclay issue. Murphy has been featured at the Omaha Summer Arts Festival, the Avoca Iowa Folk Festival, and the Lincoln Plainsong Festival. He frequently works with Winnebago leader,

Frank LaMere Franklin Dean LaMere (March 1, 1950 – June 16, 2019) was an American activist and politician. He was a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska from South Sioux City, and the son of a Gold Star Mother and a combat veteran father. He was a me ...

, on the Whiteclay issue and in 2015 recorded a song with LaMere about Whiteclay and Pine Ridge.

Music education

He has taught Native American flute at clinics and colleges in the midwest, especially the Omaha Metropolitan Community College and the

Nebraska Indian Community College Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC) is a Public college, public Tribal colleges and universities, tribal Land-grant university, land-grant community college with three locations in Nebraska: Macy, Nebraska, Macy on the Omaha Tribe reservatio ...

and St. Augustine Mission in

Macy, Nebraska Macy is a census-designated place (CDP) in Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,045 at the 2020 census. It is within the Omaha Reservation, and includes Omaha Nation Public Schools. Macy is the birthplace of the Nativ ...

. Murphy is a member of the

Nebraska Arts Council The Nebraska Arts Council is a state agency that seeks to promote, cultivate and sustain the arts in Nebraska. The organization in its present form was established in 1974, and is funded by the state of Nebraska, the National Endowment for the Arts, ...

and the

International Native American Flute Association The World Flute Society (WFS), a successor to the International Native American Flute Association, is a non-profit organization dedicated to "musical and cultural expressions of the world's indigenous and folk flute traditions." WFS has a particul ...

. He has also taught workshops in flute decoration.

Discography

*Secret Thoughts (1996) *The Second (1998) *Sacred Hearts (2002) *Trail of Tears (2003) *Peace (2004) *Honor Songs of the Great White Father (2006)

External links

Official Home Page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Michael John Songwriters from Nebraska Native American flute players Musicians from Omaha, Nebraska American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent Living people Year of birth missing (living people)