Biography

Willie Murphy is not just a bluesman. He is a soul, R&B, blues and rock legend who once challenged the Rolling Stones to a pool tournament. In Willie’s words, “The Stones chickened out.”  As a charter member of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame along with Bob Dylan and Prince, Willie is a musical force to reckoned with.

His life plays out like a history of modern music, born out of roaming, rebellion, drugs and a boundless energy to create. He’s performed with everyone from Jefferson Airplane, James Taylor and Joan Baez to Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins and Son House. Willie is a songwriter and producer, but most of all, he is a performer whose music is larger than life.    

Born in Minneapolis, Willie started playing the piano at age four and in 5th grade, became a charter member of the Little Richard Fan Club. Grade school was the period when Willie’s life-long love of rhythm & blues started. His formative years coincided with the beatnik era of the 1950’s and 60’s and found him cruising the streets of South Minneapolis in hot cars, learning how to play guitar, pick up girls and jam with R&B and jazz groups. An avid reader, he was also busy writing poems and crafting his own songs. As the beatnik scene progressed to the counter-culture movement, he grew his hair, partook in alcohol and drug experimentation and frequented wild parties.

While playing in R&B bands on Minneapolis’ north and south sides, Willie also hung out on the city’s famous West Bank, where he met folk musician “Spider” John Koerner. Willie soon became an integral part of that vibrant West Bank music scene (that churned out such musical legends as Bob Dylan and Koerner, Ray & Glover). Willie and Koerner began to write together and tour the country. What came from this musical partnership was a wild month-long party in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains that resulted in the iconic 1967 album Running, Jumping, Standing Still (re-issued on Red House in 1994), which to this day, is considered one of Elektra Records’ best releases. The duo toured the US club and festival circuit, playing with the biggest names in music, enjoying a spectacular slot at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival, where Willie hung out with blues and country legends like Sleepy John Estes, Muddy Waters, Don Everly and Carl Perkins.

Jac Holzman, head of Elektra, was Willie’s biggest fan and wanted a second album from Koerner and Murphy. He also offered Murphy a house producer job if he would relocate to LA or New York. Although he had enjoyed playing the folk clubs with Koerner, Willie was eager to return to his R&B roots. Excited by his new band Willie & The Bumble Bees, he turned down both of Jac Holzman's offers so he could tour with The Bees. He kept Minneapolis as his home base, thriving in the vibrant Midwest music scene.

It was in Minnesota in 1971 that he produced Bonnie Raitt’s first recording on Warner Bros. Recorded in "Snaker" Dave Ray's studio, the album featured Willie and the Bees as her backing band. Following that, Willie's band toured with Bonnie and other luminaries, sharing the bill with James Brown, Dr. John, Wilson Pickett and B.B. King. Willie and the Bees went on to become underground legends, playing their ecstatic groove for people across the country and bringing a who’s who of famous musicians to see their live shows.

The life was good but wild. The Bees had a big reputation for partying heavy, and they certainly lived up to it. After burning out on drugs and drinking, Willie quit both in the late 1970’s. He continued to tour, making folks across the country "dance their brains out" with the wild, soulful sounds of the Bees. Then, after 14 years of making music together, the Bees played their last gig together on New Year's of 1984. Willie resumed playing blues and rock piano, becoming a well-known solo performer. Always very much a “band guy,” he formed the Angel Headed Hipsters in the late 1980’s, continuing to write songs and record and perform for large audiences in Europe and the Midwest.

Willie went on to start his own label Atomic Theory, promoting many great regional musicians (Boiled in Lead, The New International Trio, James Solberg and Phil Heywood) to a national audience.

Now, Willie surprises fans once again with his new genre-bending release on Red House Records. A 20-track, 2-CD album, A Shot of Love in a Time of Need is exactly that--a refreshingly joyful album that lifts you up and makes you dance. Featuring soul, jazz, funk, rock and folk, this wildly eclectic album embodies the best of Willie Murphy and is sure to be an instant classic.