Saint Augustine is not where Patrick Murphy was supposed to end up. His plans were to go to Los Angeles to work as a studio musician and to see what else he could do; but when his sister Colleen called him and said that their mom needed help in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1979, Murphy agreed to go help her out for the year his sister suggested.
He never left.
That decision did not hold him back; instead, he has made such a musical impact in the area that he has now been inducted into the St. Augustine Music Hall of Fame. So has that sister who has got him down to St. Augustine in the first place.
Obviously, musical talent runs in the family.
His parents, James and Bertha Murphy, were both musicians as were their parents. His father preached at Demossville Baptist Church in the sixties, and he worked at the C&L Railroad, as well. The family played together with Murphy starting on mandolin when he was four. “It could fit in my hands,” he said. The family played standards, so he grew up learning styles such as Dixieland and Delta Blues.
That early start gave him a unique way to get income as a senior in high school. “I worked farms—hay, tobacco…I love to work—but I traveled around the region during the weekend playing music. I would go north (Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky) to do studio work after school, too.” At 17, he and his sister also had a writers’ contract as house writers in Nashville.
“I still get residual checks every once in a while for some of those songs, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. Colleen probably has them filed away, so she could tell you.”
As he started working with his own bands as a teenager, Murphy found himself leaning toward a variety of genres. He also knew he wanted to know more about theory and composition. He was more interested in the learning than he was in the usual goal of graduating, so after high school, Murphy attended NKU’s music theory and composition classes—“I wasn’t interested in a degree. I wanted to assimilate what I knew into what I knew.” He later went on to get his degree, attending Cumberland College and Antioch College.
All of that experience in his young days came in handy later when he brought together the Alligator Cowboys around the late 80s. The band performed all over the St. Augustine area, and it was known for its musical comedy improv. “Nothing was sacred,” he said. “We tackled all the difficult subjects that people would throw out, and we would write songs on the spot.” According to their Facebook page, Murphy stopped booking the band in 2017, but its reputation around the area is one of the two reasons Murphy believes he was inducted into this year’s hall of fame. The other reason is his sister who he says is the Matriarch of the Open Mic in St. Auguustine. Her role in the musical field of the area has been more conducting benefits and other charitable events that involve music. “She is the one they really wanted,” he chuckles. “They decided they had better put me in there with her, I guess.”
But Murphy likely stands on his own right, and not only for his work with the Alligator Cowboys. He is known for performing over 3,000 songs ranging all the genres as well as writing his own. He has been called on to front for names such as James Brown, Bob Dylan, Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Allen Coe, and a host of other per formers and bands as well as working as a studio musician for many.
He shares his knowledge and talents with others through teaching. In his NKU days, he taught music at Buddy Rogers. Later, he taught free continuing education classes at NKU, and those classes included music theory, composition, writing, and a few instruments. He now teaches at St. Augustine Academy of Music and at Sterry Piano, Inc., in St. Augustine. “If you can play one instrument,” he says, “I can teach you to play anything you want in an hour.
He also volunteers his musical talent for organizations in the St. Augustine area..
While music is his first love, his other love is building. (“I like to build when I get tired of playing music.”) He is a framer, a certified finish carpenter, and a shipwright, besides. He had his hand in building and remodeling some houses around the area, including taking two log structures and making them one, numbering the logs and digging the new foundation as they went.
But his emphasis on his life is fun. Anyone who talks to him can hear it in his voice. His quick wit and engaging sense of humor have helped him on his road to success. He has not allowed himself to be defeated, even when he was in the throes of bipolar disorder. (“Stop suffering; get help,” he states emphatically.)
“I’ve told people that when I die, they are going to have to get a plastic surgeon to come in and take the smile off my face.
“Life is as interesting as you choose to live it.”
You can enjoy Murphy’s music in YouTube. Search “Alligator Cowboys” for a sampling of his work.
