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Kelly Patrick Murphy

Questions:

Why do I call myself a “Band Guy”

What music do I like?

What guitars do I use?

“in my own words”

Questions:

What do I use for a guitar amp?

What do I use for the PA system?

What do I use for stage lighting?

Band and Personal History

Philosophy

I am a “Band Guy”

What that means is I am tuned into every detail that makes a band exemplary. That includes efficient rehearsals to make sure the vocals and instruments are as close to the original as possible, correct song selection, booking the proper rooms, pacing of live performances by well-thought out setlists, choosing the appropriate PA and lights, creation of band promo packs, etc.

All these details is what separates a typical bar band from a professional showband.

I’ve always considered myself lucky to make a living at something I love.

If you love your job, you’ll never work a day in your life.

Favorite Song?

It is hard to choose just one. It seems like I have a new favorite song every other week. I grew up with the Beatles and classic rock. I covered popular music that was played on the radio with bands for MANY years. Although I have followed hundreds of bands, my favorite bands have always had outstanding guitar players. I have no attraction to current dance oriented or rap music that do not have a guitar player on stage.

If a band has a good guitar player, I like them regardless of their style. It is hard to name my favorite guitar player. But if you google the top 30 guitar players of all time, I would recognize them all and probably stole licks from them.

I would say that my current favorite style of music is probably Blues or Jazz Fusion.

One song that I especially like is an older tune by Tower of Power called “What is Hip”. Their horn section is considered one of the best of all time, the bass player is really “funky”, the drummer is hot, and the guitar is great. The horn parts in “What is Hip” and the rest of the band are extremely tight and I especially like the fake ending where they come back with an organ solo.

Gear

Guitars

I have had many guitars throughout my musical career. My go-to guitar has always been a Gibson Les Paul. I presently own a Custom Les Paul, Gibson Artisan, Fender Strat, Gibson SG, Barcus Berry five string electric violin, Gibson J160E acoustic, Fender Mandolin, and a Casio MIDI guitar.

Guitar Gear

My primary amp  up until 2 years ago, was a rack mounted Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp with a Boogie power amp. Additionally all my effects were rack mounted and controlled with a Ground Control Pro MIDI controller.

I have now transitioned to a new technology in guitar amps called the KEMPER. The rack mounted stereo Kemper Profiling amp with remote footswitch is controlled via MIDI.

Kemper allows access to all the classic guitar amps of all time. Includes Mesa Boogie, Dumble, Marshall, Fender Twin, Soldano, Fender Bassman, Roland, Magnatone, Diezel, Peavey 5150, Orange, HiWatt, Vox AC30, and many more. Important note to any guitar players, the Kemper is a profiler, not a modeler or simulator such as a Line 6 Helix, Axe-FX, Quad Cortex, virtual plugins, etc. Don’t listen when people say that the Kemper is the same as a modeler.  It is not.

Guitar foot pedals used are MXR Talkbox, OCD by Fulltone overdrive, Boss RC 300 Loop Station,  and TC Helicon VoiceLive Play.

PA and Lights

I use  a Digital Audio Workstation called Ablelton that controls lights, backing tracks, looping, and guitar channel switching. Ableton goes to Focusrite Scarlet pre-amp and then out to  Mackie mixing board.
PA is a pair of powered EV Evolve 50M’s running in stereo with an EV18 powered sub. Entire PA mix from the Mackie board (guitar / violin, vocals, Ableton, and outboard effects) is in stereo.

Outboard PA effects are a DBX 231S Stereo 31 Band EQ, Proverb 200, TC Electronics G-Major-2, Roland Sound Canvas MIDI Guitar Controller, and Ashley Preamp for violin.
Foot controllers for main PA include, Nektar Pacer MIDI switch, AKAI MPD218 primarily used as drum controller.

Lights are “Chauvet” controlled by Ableton DAW to ensure proper synchronization to music. Not just blinking off and on, each song has its own programmed lights.

Career

In addition to my career in school administration, I have worked as a professional musician for over four decades.

 

High School

I started my 40 year career with music by playing with northeast Iowa bands while in high school. My high school rock band, ‘Blue Horizon’ played high school proms and homecomings, ballrooms, county/state fairs and clubs throughout three states. That band was nominated for the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

 

College

I then relocated to Cedar Falls, Iowa where I attended University of Northern Iowa and played with several bands.
One of those bands, “Hip Pocket” played 6 nights a week for months at a time.  This gave me the first experience of being a full time musician.
Also during my college year I played in a band called  ‘Tennyson’ who performed in the casinos of Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada.

 

Indiana

I later moved to Indiana to attend graduate school at Indiana University and played with multiple bands that included performing with Michael Clark, the guitarist/steel guitar player from the nationally syndicated radio program The Bob and Tom Show.

 


Read more about Murphy’s Musical Career.


Read about Murphy’s Academic and Professional Career


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Tennyson Version 2 Live Electric Park

Waterloo, Iowa Left to right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Pete Simonson-Drums, Greg Coffin-Bass, Tina Windsor-Vocals, Greg Galloway-Keyboard,…

Tennyson Original Live at Billie Jo’s

Waterloo, Iowa Left to Right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Greg Coffin-Bass, Deb Smithe-Vocals, John Rolf-Drums, Skip Franklin-Guitar,…

Tennyson Original Lineup

Original version of Tennyson. Front row left to right: Skip Franklin-Guitar, Deb Smithe-Vocals, Greg Galloway-Keyboards.…

Tennyson Later Version

Left to Right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Greg Coffin -Bass, Pete Simonson-Drums, Tina Windsor-Vocals, Randy Etscheit-Guitar, Greg…

Hip Pocket

Played 6 days a week for months at a time. Back Row, Left to Right:…

Blue Horizon

Oelwein Iowa. Played throughout the Midwest. Nominated for Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Blue Horizon – Oelwein Iowa. Played throughout the Midwest. Nominated for Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Left to right – Tom Kammer – Drums, Terry Wheeler – Guitar, Kelly Murphy – Guitar, Mike Vargason – Vocals, Rob Tatro – Bass, Charlie Hallberg – Percussion

Hip Pocket

Played 6 days a week for months at a time. Back Row, Left to Right: Dave Christofferson- Keyboards, Kelly Murphy-Guitar, , Nancy Ganske-Vocals, Mike Cuttsforth-Vocals, Bruce Baugher-Drums. Front Row: Steve Nichols-Bass

Original version of Tennyson. Played throughout the Midwest and in the casinos of Reno and Lake Tahoe Nevada.

Front row left to right: Skip Franklin-Guitar, Deb Smithe-Vocals, Greg Galloway-Keyboards.

Back row left to right: John Rolf-Drums, Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Greg Coffin-Bass

Tennyson Live on stage – Waterloo, Iowa

Left to Right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Greg Coffin-Bass, Deb Smithe-Vocals, John Rolf-Drums, Skip Franklin-Guitar, Greg Galloway-Keyboards

Tennyson Version 2

Left to Right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Greg Coffin -Bass, Pete Simonson-Drums, Tina Windsor-Vocals, Randy Etscheit-Guitar, Greg Galloway-Keyboards

Tennyson Live at Electric Park – Waterloo, Iowa

Left to right: Kelly Murphy-Guitar, Pete Simonson-Drums, Greg Coffin-Bass, Tina Windsor-Vocals, Greg Galloway-Keyboard, Randy Etscheit-Guitar

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