ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: MARY CAMPBELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
Could cowboy songs, a rich American heritage and the Western in country-western music be fittingly accompanied by a symphony orchestra?
The answer, singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey has discovered, is yes.
Now ``Austin City Limits'' viewers can discover it, too, on Saturday night at 10:30 on WBRA (Channel 15). The PBS series, instead of giving half an hour each to two performers, will present an hour Murphey has titled ``Sagebrush Symphony.'' Murphey, his Rio Grande Band and some interesting guests perform with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
This is the first time ``Austin City Limits'' has taped outside Austin and it is the first time it has used a symphony orchestra.
Murphey's debut appearance with an orchestra was 11 years ago. The New Mexico Symphony invited him to be a guest, singing some of his hits, including ``Wildfire,'' ``Carolina in the Pines,'' ``Geronimo's Cadillac'' and ``What's Forever For?''
Murphey, who lives on a ranch near Taos, N.M., and has a cabin near Red River, N.M., wanted to do it.
But he made a countersuggestion, that he sing classic Western folk songs, ``Red River Valley,'' ``Tumbling Tumbleweeds,'' ``The Old Chisholm Trail,'' ``San Antonio Rose'' and others, mixing in a few songs that such music inspired him to write.
``Wildfire'' is one. ``It's based on a ghost story my grandfather told me on the porch when I was 3 or 4, about a horse that could never be captured,'' Murphey says.
The New Mexico Symphony engaged him. Now Murphey performs ``Sagebrush Symphony'' with orchestras 15 to 20 times a year.
``It hasn't been a hard sell,'' he says. ``A lot of symphonies are in trouble. Anything that sells tickets they will take a second look at. And it brings new listeners to the symphony.''
Murphey, who has been on ``Austin City Limits'' often, suggested ``Sagebrush Symphony'' to the show about six years ago. It was deemed too expensive.
But when Murphey recorded a CD of ``Sagebrush Symphony'' with the San Antonio Symphony, for the Warner Western label, the TV show's producers attended the concert. They gave the go-ahead and told Murphey to start raising money. ``I guess the whole thing cost upwards of $200,000,'' he says.
San Antonio's concert hall had limitations for a TV crew. Oklahoma City's hall was a possibility, and friends at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame there told Murphey the city's image was sadly negative since the bombing. So he initiated plans with conductor Joel Levine to tape ``Sagebrush Symphony'' in Oklahoma City.
There was enough money for only one concert. The show, last Oct. 30, was stopped just once, when the tape broke, Murphey says. ``And there are no overdubs or fixes in the studio. The album is the same, a true live album.''
However, a few film clips are inserted for ``Austin City Limits.'' After Herb Jeffries sings ``I'm a Happy Cowboy,'' which he wrote for a movie he starred in, there's a clip of him singing it in the film.
``The reason I tell his age, 84, is because it shocks people,'' Murphey says. ``He looks like he's in his 60s. He's the Georgia O'Keeffe of cowboys.''
Murphey often invites guests to perform on his ``Sagebrush Symphony'' shows. Hank Thompson is on this one, singing Woody Guthrie's ``Oklahoma Hills.''
Murphey was born in Oak-cliff, Texas. Both grandfathers and all his uncles were ranchers or veterinarians. His first job, at 16, was singing cowboy songs around a campfire for weekenders at a working ranch.
He didn't grow up listening to orchestras. But he wishes more country-western music fans would attend symphony concerts. He thinks they'd be surprised by how much they enjoy the experience.
``We're in grave danger of losing our arts,'' he says. ``I don't think a society can afford to lose that. It'd be no fun any more. If we don't have the arts and fun, the quality of life is pretty dreary.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB