Big Jim Murphy w/ Asleep at the Wheel last nite

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 26 Oct 2001 1:53 pm

Well, that ol' Wheel rolled right through my neighborhood last nite and the guys played a bang-up show for a couple hundred people in a new local restaurant/music venue, called North by Northwest. It's a small club for them, but hey, they were passing thru between Pittsburgh and NYC and needed the filler gig. Besides, Ray Benson grew up a few miles down the road, so his mom and dad, and a bunch of other relatives were there. As well as Lucky Oceans' family (he grew up here too).

It was a great show and my first chance to hear Big Jim Murphy play; just outstanding stuff on both pedal and nonpedal steel. His nonpedal was an old Fender that had been converted by a prior owner to pedals, and Jim took them off and just plays it nonpedal. His pedal was a Bethel. Both sounded excellent and he's got chops to burn of course. By the way, Jim also doubled on sax, which may explain the absence of long-time Wheel horn-man Michael Francis who is, um, er... "no longer with the band". (Can you add 2 + 2?)

They're at the Rodeo Bar tonite in NYC. Catch'em if you can.

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www.jimcohen.com

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 26 Oct 2001 4:11 pm

Guess who was not reading the AATW scedule.

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 26 Oct 2001 6:40 pm

Is "BIG JIM" the same big Jim from
Californ-eye-ay, who knows anything and everything about Band-In-A-Box?????

Jim Smith · Post by **Jim Smith** » 26 Oct 2001 6:44 pm

Nope. That Big Jim is Jim Baron. This Big Jim is Jim Murphy, Wally Murphy's older brother.

Big Jim has been around quite a while. I really enjoyed his picking on an old Carl (not Cal) Smith album, and used to play the instrumental he played on that album called Big Murph.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 26 Oct 2001 7:54 pm

Never having met or seen him before, I was certainly expecting a much "bigger" fella. He's actually kind of a slight figure with a grey beard that makes him look a lot like George Carlin. Anybody know how he got his nickname of "Big"? Has he lost a lot of weight (or height?) since those days? Certainly his chops are big. By the way, he told me that he and Wally are actually half-brothers. Same dad. (This proves that the "steel guitar gene" is located on the Y chromosome!)<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 26 October 2001 at 08:56 PM.]</p></FONT>

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 26 Oct 2001 8:23 pm

You 'knuckleheads' crack me up. Keep it coming. Never let up. I love the agony
and the Ex-2-Sea. Jim S - gonna miss you in Waltham; and Jim C - will not miss you in
Waltham; CF