Who is Minnie Murphy?
When I sat down with Minnie Murphy to discuss her new single, I was greeted by her son lively tapping away on an electronic keyboard. This about sums up Murphy and her family. “I come from a musical family, my dad plays guitar, my mom plays piano, my sisters sing, I also have a twin brother but he is not so much into the music thing,” Murphy explains. “My name is Minnie Murphy and I live here in Nashville but I grew up in Bellingham, Washington,” Murphy said as she introduced herself.
Growing up With Music
Exposed to music and songwriting at a young age, Murphy was destined to become a songwriter herself. “My parents made a living playing in bars around Bellingham,” Murphy admits. “I started taking piano lessons when I was 10 years old, I’ve just always been around music; my half sister is Jamie O’Neal.” With music in her blood, Murphy’s career got off to an early start. “I started coming to Nashville in high school with my dad and cowriting with people and we got five songs that I felt good about and we recorded them and pitched it to Sony,” Murphy explains. “Cliff Aldrich in the A&R department really liked it so he flew out to our house in Bellingham and I sang for him and I got a record deal right out of high school.”
Getting Comfortable in the Industry
Although Murphy got off to a hot start, not everything was golden for the Washington native early on. “Shortly after we moved to Nashville I lost my deal because Sony merged with RCA,” Murphy explains. “But I kept working and gigging around town here, I kept learning.” During her tenure in Nashville Murphy has bumped shoulders with some of the biggest names in the industry. “I got to sing with my sister Jamie on the Jay Leno show and at the Grand Ole Opry, I got to sing back up for Martina (McBride) but there were a lot of ups and downs,” she admits.
Although her initial deal with Sony fell through, Murphy continued to get up each and every time she was pushed down. “So the deal I have now is with Evergreen Publishing and it was the first deal I got on my own,” Murphy explains. “I was waiting tables and I just thought ‘you know what I am not gonna give up I am a songwriter’ so I just went in there by myself and that was a turning point for me.”
Another turning point in Murphy’s story is the birth of her son. “In 2020, I had a son and that re-motivated me to want to put my music out again,” Murphy says. “Even though they say that you have to give up your dreams when you become a parent, for me it was the opposite, I want to leave something behind for him and set a good example of following your dreams.”
New Single “Get Over It”
Murphy’s newest single, “Get Over It,” has been doing extremely well on streaming platforms and discusses dark themes of heartbreak and self doubt. “It’s got that old school country feel to it,” Murphy explains. “Talking about the self-saboteur that we all have. As one of my favorite psychologists said, ‘We all carry certain archetypes and one of them is that sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.'”
With a smooth and soothing melody, Murphy explains how the song came to be. “The song title was an invention of my publishers partner actually, and sometimes we get assignments and that is what this song was,” Murphy explains. “He told me that ‘Don Bedell wants you to write a song called ‘Get Over It,’ so I called up Trafton Harvey who is another writer at the company and we decided to go with a retro-throwback vibe.”
Although the track radiates classic country energy, it is an emotional tale from start to finish. “It’s pretty raw and heart break oriented,” says Murphy. “I think country music has always bravely talked about the dark sides of ourselves and I appreciate that about the classic stuff.”
Album Coming Soon
With “Get Over It” serving as an appetizer, Murphy says she will soon be bringing fans more music. “I was sitting on a collection of songs that had a thread of all being throwback country, I think during quarantine I really resonated with that older style of country that reminded me of my childhood,” Murphy explains.
“So we took all of these demos and upgraded them and then I wrote more songs to go with the project. I wrote a song for my son, and a song about coming from a musical family,” Murphy reflected. “I actually got my dad to play on the record for that song, it’s the first time I have really made sure that I follow through with something and I think that becoming a mother really gave me a lot of confidence. I don’t criticize myself as much as I used to,” Murphy admits. “We have everything recorded, it’s just seven songs but I am really proud of it, I co-produced it with Jon Conley.”
Creating With Others
When it comes to her new project and working alongside Jon Conley, Murphy gave him rave reviews. “John was great! He plays guitar for Kenny Chesney, he has played for Wynonna (Judd), and he has just been a joy to work with!” When creating new music Murphy loves to work with others. “It’s always fun collaborating with people,” Murphy explains. “I love living in Nashville and meeting all of the talented people here, there are so many talented people here.”
For Murphy, there is no special recipe or ritual when it comes to creating. “There is no right or wrong way to make a song,” Murphy explains. “But I have learned to not critique it so much, let it out and then work with that and just know it is only one song.”
What’s Next For Minnie Murphy?
In addition to her seven track album coming soon, Murphy says her newest single will be available in Spanish. “My friend lived in Mexico for a long time and she is my best friend from childhood and she speaks fluent Spanish,” Murphy explains. “She translated it into Spanish and is telling me I need to work on my pronunciation and that I am rolling my R’s too much, but I am working on it!” In addition to widening her audience Murphy says that the linguistic change affects the song itself. “It totally changes the vibe of the song,” says Murphy. “It should be available in around a month maybe less, I am still working on it!”
For those interested in seeing Minnie Murphy live either in concert or via livestream there is good news. “I got my guys from my band and we are lining up shows,” Murphy says. “We are gonna do some livestream monthly shows with feature guests and I am really excited about that!” In anticipation of her new album, fans will also get more music. “We are going to just keep releasing singles off the LP, we got a lyric video that is really cool, it is an animated visual feast for ‘Get Over It,'” Murphy exclaims. “We also shot an official music video that we are still editing.”
With her eyes on the prize, Murphy has a lot of plans for the future. “I’ve got some surprises, some collaborations with some other artists, we might do some duets with some of the songs from the album,” Murphy says. “I just want everyone to know that I am the type of artist who likes to reinvent myself so there is going to be a lot more music that is totally different but I love to grow.”
For more information on Minnie Murphy feel free to visit her website, or follow her Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube pages.
