THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509130202
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
If country singer David Lee Murphy likes small towns, pickup trucks and a country lifestyle, he should feel right at home when he headlines the entertainment Saturday at the Isle of Wight County Fair.
With a truckload of hits already to his credit, Murphy will be on the Budweiser Main Stage from 9:15 to 11 p.m., just after the fireworks.
Otherwise, fair-goers will be treated to a country music smorgasbord with locally and regionally known entertainers performing throughout the four-day event.
Murphy, 36, is originally from Illinois. But he now lives with his wife and two children in what he calls a ``little bitty town'' about 25 miles outside Nashville.
Murphy says he values his family life, and he says his song-writing talent comes out best at his kitchen table, while he strums his guitar.
It was song-writing that first brought him into the limelight. Reba McEntire recently recorded ``Red Roses Won't Work Now,'' and Doug Stone later recorded ``High Weeds and Rust.''
Meanwhile, Murphy put together a four-piece band, Blue Tick Hounds, and played all over Nashville in ``little bars and every dive between here and Atlanta.''
His first real break as a performer came when a song he'd done for a demonstration tape was picked up for the movie ``8 Seconds,'' a film starring Luke Perry as the late bull-riding champion Lane Frost. From there, Murphy took ``Just Once'' to the recording studios, and it climbed the charts as a single. His first album, ``Out With a Bang,'' featuring the hit ``Why Can't People Just Get Along,'' soon followed.
Murphy describes his music as ``Saturday-night-in-a-pickup-truck-with-the-windows-rolled-down-having-a-good- time party music.''
If that's the case, Murphy's music should fit right in. by CNB