Lee Murdock

Description

Lee Murdock has uncovered a boundless body of music and stories in the Great Lakes. Taking snapshots from history, his songs summon the listener to take a front-row seat, to look through the eyes and into the hearts of individuals who have shaped our heritage on and around the Great Lakes. His concerts invoke a sense of place, but it is a universal place, and a timeless repertoire that celebrates the North American people, their triumphs and tragedies, work songs and pastimes.

Noted as a fluent instrumentalist on six and twelve string guitars, Murdock combines ragtime, Irish, blues and folk styles with this flair for storytelling in songs. His musical influences span fifteen generations, and combine original compositions with traditional music.

The music is grounded in the work song tradition, from the rugged days of lumberjacks and wooden sailing schooners. Murdock comes alongside with ballads of contemporary commerce and revelry in the grand folk style. Lee’s fans have discovered a sweetwater treasure in his songs about the Great Lakes, finding drama and inspiration in the lives of sailors and fishermen, lighthouse keepers, ghosts, shipwrecks, outlaws and everyday heroes.

Work Sample

Recorded "live" on Island Park, Geneva, Illinois, August 2020. Private video played as part of the Fox Valley Folk Festival online Sept 2020. TRT 25:34.
Song 1: Let the Light From the Lighthouse (Shine on Me) is traditional gospel tune adapted by Bob Zentz.
Song 2: A Trip on the Lavindy (traditional, maybe by Sylvester Ray, a Great Lakes merchant seaman in 19th century)
3. (at9:30) The Scottish Hero by Lee Murdock 
4. Sailor's Alphabet, trad, adapted/sung on Great Lakes Steamships
5. (intro at18:15, song at 19:00) Why Do They Have to Burn written by Lee Murdock about the War of 1812, gives perspectives of British, Canadians, Americans, and Native Americans
 6. (at23:30) Wild Mountain Thyme traditional Scots/Irish folk song.
(This is a "Hidden" File, you will be able to view it using the link above, but it is a Folk Festival Performance, not a public show.)

http://leemurdock.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/wheellive.mp3

This is an audio-only file, again a hidden file, not available to the public without this link.   TRT 6:42
We submit it here as an example of Lee explaining the source for one of his original songs about the Great Lakes. Lee has never been a working sailor, and never owned a boat, but his study and visualization of history and contemporary merchant sailors' lifestyle has earned him the respect of those men and women who work on the Lakes, from Coast Guard to merchant sailor, from museum curators, authors and other scholars of Great Lakes history.
We use it on occasion as a "bonus link" for emailing list or other private lagniappe. This was recorded live at WFMT "FolkStage" Engineer Eric Arunas, host Rich Warren. 

This is a song from one of Lee Murdock's 21 published recordings. The title song to "What About the Water." This is a song that Lee wrote about protecting the water quality of the Great Lakes, from a true story related to him by one of his avid fans.  TRT 6:09

I have submitted two live performances, and one from my recorded work. All 21 of my CDs are still "in print" -- the body of work I am creating continues to build upon itself.

History

I have been a full time touring performer since 1979. I released my first vinyl album, "The Grand Departure" in 1980. I have always looked to local history and experience as inspiration for my songs, but my full immersion in music of the Great Lakes region, especially but not exclusively maritime history, started in 1989 when I wrote "The Christmas Ship," a song about the Rouse Simmons, a lumber schooner that was often seen in Chicago ports in the 19th century. While touring, I began to stop in to the museums, lighthouses, ports and other historic sites around the Great Lakes, where curators, authors, fishermen, The Lake Carriers Association and other principals of the maritime life shared experiences which found their way into my songs. I also made a deep study of the Great Lakes songs and history found in the Ivan Walton Collection at the U of Michigan, with its 29 file boxes of paper notes and many hours of early recordings of sailor songs. Several awards, notably the Joyce S.Hayward Award for Historic Interpretation from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History. 21 CDs to date, played worldwide. 

Artistic Vision

I began as a self-taught guitar player, and I am best known for finger-style instrumental guitar and accompaniment on six and twelve string guitar. For over 20 years, I have taught private guitar lessons and I feel this is a part of my musical mission as well. For many years, I was content to play ragtime, blues, ballads, and classical music on the steel string guitar. I learned entirely by ear, with a great love for those types of music and other popular music of the 19-20th centuries. But I did struggle to distinguish myself as a performer in a sea of acoustic folk/contemporary musicians. And this brought me to seek out the folk songs from my own region ... there are "southern" and "Irish" and "cowboy" and so many sources of folk songs, but where were the songs from Illinois and my region? I truly found my "place" in the music diaspora in 1991, with the release of my first all-Great Lakes CD "Cold Winds." Those songs opened me up to dozens of other songs -- from the tradition and from my contemporaries -- and also led me to the stories from history which became source for my own writing. There are so many times where I hear that my songs have touched my listeners in an amazing array of deep and personal ways. There is so much more to come.

Programs for Specific Audience(s) Expertise

I got my stage legs in clubs and libraries, began touring in the college circuit, and naturally progressed to work as an educator. My wife Joann and I published a cassette study guide and booklet in the early 90s, and this was updated in 2004 with the publication of a 148 page book and 18 song CD, "Lake Rhymes, Folk Songs of the Great Lakes Region" (co-authored by my wife, Joann). This book became the study guide for grade schools, junior high and high school audiences where my arts-in-education performances enriched the study of language, history, and social studies. Self-published, the book was reissued in 2019 in hardcover, with the CD.
Another important audience for me has been my performances with elders and with those in skilled care facilities, from memory care to rehab, to those with extreme disabilities.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

I do not categorize myself as a traditional folk musician, although I have done extensive research in historical archives and also in the contemporary folklife of those who still work on the Great Lakes. My repertoire has always been about 1/3 original compositions, about 1/3 songs by my own contemporary songwriters or writers like Stephen Foster etc, and 1/3 songs from traditional collections such as the Ivan Walton collection, Stan Hugill and the songs from Mystic Seaport research, and British Isles folksongs.