Michael Martin Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas Ball is being called, “An evening of Christmas entertainment, cowboy style.” Murphey, along with the Rio Grande Band featuring Enid native Kyle Dillingham, comes to the Chisholm Trail Expo Center on Saturday, December 14.
Tickets are $25, $40 and $70 and are on sale now through the Expo Center website. $70 tickets include floor seating, a three-course dinner and dancing.
About Michael Martin Murphey
Originally from Texas, Murphey is best known for his chart-topping hits “Wildfire,” Carolina In The Pines,” “What’s Forever For,” “Long Line of Love,” “Geronimo’s Cadillac” and “Cowboy Logic,” in addition to more across 35 albums.
Murphey’s original songs have been recorded by The Monkees, Kenny Rogers, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Denver, Hoyt Axton, Johnny Cash, Tracy Byrd, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dolly Parton, Johnny Rivers, and Billy Ray Cyrus, among others.
During the early 1970s, Murphey and other artists created the “Cosmic Cowboy” movement, pivotal in drawing artists like Willie Nelson to the scene, and helped birth the “Outlaw Country” movement.
“On the strength of his first album alone,” proclaimed Rolling Stone Magazine, “Michael Murphey is the best new songwriter in the country.” In 1975 he topped the pop charts with his hit singles, “Wildfire” and “Carolina In the Pines” from the RIAA Certified Gold album Blue Sky – Night Thunder.
He saw continued success in the 1980s, continuing to top the country charts with hits like “What’s Forever For;” the Grammy nominated “A Face In the Crowd,” with Holly Dunn; the No. 1 “A Long Line of Love;” and “I’m Gonna Miss You Girl. Twelve years after his first hit in pop music, Murphey was awarded Best New Artist by the Academy of Country Music.
In 1985, Murphey performed with the New Mexico Symphony in a concept he titled “A Night in the American West,” which was so well received, it led to hundreds of performances with American and Canadian symphonies, including the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.
As a strong supporter of preserving the American West history, Murphey has focused western and bluegrass genres.
Murphey has been awarded gold albums for Cowboy Songs, Vol. I; Blue Sky Night Thunder; and platinum-single “Wildfire.” He’s the recipient of the Charlie Russell Award for Western Heritage and a 5-time recipient of the Wrangler award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame. He’s earned from the Academy of Country Music, rock music genre and Academy of Western Music. He’s received the Governor of New Mexico’s Outstanding Achievement Award, Outstanding Son of Texas Award by the Texas legislature and multiple from BMI. In 2009, he was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association Hall of Fame, joining old friends Willie Nelson, Guy Clark and Allen Shamblin. In April 2019 Murphey was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 59th Annual Western Heritage Awards.
“In the Old West,” Murphey said, “songs were shared by pioneers, cattlemen, ranchers, painted ladies and even gunslingers as a way of keeping the West alive. I have always been drawn to songs about the love of the land, the strength of the prairie folks, the dusty trails, the mythic tales and the legends of a bygone era. I have always admired Westerners for their stubborn determination and deep love of life. That’s what I celebrate in my music.”
