John Murry

John Murry's The Graceless Age was the album of a lifetime. When it was released in 2012, it entered the hearts of thousands of listeners and gathered accolades from critics worldwide. An extraordinary work of breathtaking scope and ambition, it came from nowhere and seemed to have set up John Murry as a major artist. The album was listed by UNCUT as one of the 10 best records of 2012. Mojo also included it in their 10 best albums of 2013, as well as The Guardian in their Top 50 of 2013 and American Songwriter in their Top 5 of 2013. But then things went quiet. The Graceless Age was a harrowing document of addiction and redemption that appeared to have a happy ending. John's marriage was rekindled, his story became folk history and all was set for a successful career. Then Tim Mooney died. As producer of this unique sounding record, Tim had played a crucial role, both as co-creator, mentor, and close friend of the artist. His death stunned the San Francisco music community and it shocked John Murry. “Tim’s death left a hole in me. In the months and years that have followed, everyone that connected me to Tim seems to have fallen away. I don’t blame them anymore than I blame myself, for the most part.” It wasn't long before Murry’s life was falling apart again, this time not as a result of drugs but more a combination of unfortunate circumstances.

A series of fall-outs with record companies, managers and agents led to an impasse of poverty, confusion, misunderstanding and resentment that forced the momentum to a halt. “Perhaps I am difficult. Perhaps they are. Regardless, I know who I am and I know who they are. My job is simple: to create art. I am fairly certain that theirs is to encourage and further that in order to ensure we all eat. It’s hard to believe you are biting the hand that feeds you when you are the one doing the cooking, too.” As personal difficulties increased, so did the creative flow, with songs tumbling out. But a crippling lack of finance meant that any recordings, with a varied selection of musicians in the UK, the US and Australia, remained incomplete and unreleased. Murry's marriage collapsed again and he had to leave the USA, winding up in the musician colony of Kilkenny, Ireland. He could so easily have relapsed into drugs and depression, but in Kilkenny he found himself in the supportive environment he so badly needed.

Murry is an extraordinary person, hard to describe. His faraway eyes might falsely make you think he was still on drugs, while his ever changing range of eccentric hairstyles could make you cross the street to avoid what appears to be a hobo, shuffling along in ragged jeans, holed at the knee. Record Collector magazine described him as "a deranged baddie from a cheap black and white movie". But seldom have appearances been more deceptive. John Murry has a fierce and razor-sharp intellect, knowledgeable in the fields of literature, history and philosophy, all of it self-taught. In person, he will engage you in reasoned conversation, delivered in the semi-comprehensible Mississippi drawl which characterises his stream-of-consciousness stage patter, but after a while begins to make sense. But what does he sound like? The traditional approach of comparing an artist to others from the past simply doesn't work with Murry. He genuinely sounds like no one but himself. His voice avoids all rock and roll inflections and can vary from gentle croon to an intimidating bark, especially in live performance. And live is how to experience him, because his no-holds-barred approach means that anything can happen and no two performances will ever be the same.

At the End Of The Road Festival in 2013, a good third of the audience was in tears and David Byrne made his way backstage to praise the intensity of the performance. The wild eyes, the jerking limbs, the raging electric guitar interludes, all make for a unique and almost frightening live experience. Kilkenny has been good for John and John has been good for Kilkenny. In those parts, they warm to fine poets and songwriters, and John has been taken to the hearts of a whole range of musicians, artists, filmmakers and philosophers. In a happy outcome, Murry has been granted Irish residency, his divorce has been completed amicably and he now lives in a steady relationship and in a strong and supportive community. He’s also drug-free (apart from the occasional Guinness). In late 2015, Murry was contacted out of the blue by Michael Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies. They had met while working together on the Mark Linkous tribute album Sparkle On and Timmins had developed an affection for Murry’s music and curiosity as to what had become of him. The proposal was a straightforward one: Murry was to come over to Toronto and record his next album with Timmins producing and members of the Cowboy Junkies as the backing band (along with the Pogues’ Cait O’Riordan on bass on backing vocals). The album is complete and due for release in early 2017.