Blues Brother Matt "Guitar" Murphy has died

[Steve Green]

RIP Blues Brother Matt "Guitar" Murphy

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news ... 88-w521611

[Dave Mudgett]

Not a surprise but I'm gonna miss him. RIP Matt.

[Godfrey Arthur]

Godspeed Matt and thanks for the music and films.

[Joel Lee Weinstein]

Back in 1977, I was living in Maine and playing with, what would be called an "progressive country" band (something Gram Parsons would surely scoff at). But lucky for us we were play mostly original music because we got a call to open three shows for the James Cotton Blues Band (one in Bangor and two in southern Maine). The first show went very well, even though the crowd was there only to see James Cotton and his amazing guitar player, Matt Guitar Murphy. The second show in Southern Maine was a bit surreal. My band was doing the sound for that show, so our sound man worked with James Cotton's road manager to set up everything. After our set, I went back to the sound board and sat with both of them as James Cotton took the stage. Something starting going wrong immediately. Matt Murphy was constantly call for his guitar to be brought up on his monitor. Our soundman kept raising the mic on Matt's amp but that didn't do any good. Matt kept signalling at the same time the piano kept getting louder, so the mic on the piano keep being turn down. Matt kept signalling. Finally when the break came, Matt Guitar Murphy ran back to the sound board upset because he couldn't hear himself. He ended up giving both our soundman and the road manager the finger and stormed out. The soundman ran up to the stage with the road manager and found out that the guitar mic had been put on the piano and visa versa. So every time they thought there were turning up the guitar they were turning up the piano and every time they though they were turning down the piano, it was actually the guitar that was turned down. Matt Murphy was rightly upset. And that's my evening with the great guitar player, may he rest in peace.

[Godfrey Arthur]

The soundman ran up to the stage with the road manager and found out that the guitar mic had been put on the piano and visa versa.

That's why a line check during setup is critical so that each mic or line is secured that it is connected to the right instrument or singer. Before the actual concert, need to play through each instrument's/vocal's mic/line to avoid what happened to Guitar Murphy.