Swans Against the Sun

MUSICIANS: Michael Martin Murphey-Vocals & Acoustic Guitar; Audie Blaylock-Lead Acoustic Guitar; Ryan Murphey-Rhythm Acoustic Guitar; Craig Nelson-Acoustic Bass; Andy Leftwich-Fiddle, Charlie Cushman-Banjo, Ronnie McCoury-Mandolin.

John Denver sung “Swans Against the Sun” with me as a duet on the 1976 album of the same name. I admit being influenced by ancient Chinese poetry by poets like Li Bai, and Chinese painters like Gou Xi of the Northern Song Dynasty, and their influence on my favorite American watercolor artists like John Singer Sargent, Andrew Wyeth and William C. Matthews. I was really interested in the potent meaning of the nature imagery in ancient poems and paintings, often created by wandering artists of ancient cultures. I close “Buckaroo Blue Grass II – Riding Song” with “Swans Against the Sun” because my music has always been full of restlessness and longing to go to another place. The horizon is my favorite place of all. It’s kind of a “cowboy thing”…