We were lucky to catch up with Murphy Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Murphy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve played music since I was 10, and I was a full time jazz bassist in New Orleans from college until 2020; but to me something was always missing. Even though I loved what I did, jazz wasn’t the music I would listen to in my free time. When Covid hit and brought with it an abundance of free time, I learned what I really wanted to do.

In 2020 I started learning about songwriting and producing the kind of music I really did listen to for fun. Since I was essentially starting from scratch, I had to teach myself. While the learning curve was steep at first, my heavy music background gave me great transferable skills in practicing and knowing how I learn best, (as well as the music theory knowledge and comfort in improvising). Despite starting in a field that wasn’t 100% what I wanted, this experience gave me a unique background that heavily shaped and helped my process in learning this new craft.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve always been a fan of many different genres of music-artists like The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Daft Punk, Paul Simon, and St. Vincent just to name a few. Even though these artists cover a broad spectrum of genres and decades, they each speak to a different part of what I love about music. Every person (musician or not) has their own amalgam of artists that they enjoy, and whether they realize it or not, I believe every person has a sound in their head that is the perfect mixture of those artists. To me, I love how different every Beatles song can be, hard to pin down one unique vibe; I love how Prince uses numerous simple, hooky parts to make one perfect emotive groove; I love how Paul Simon uses such unique and deep metaphors that I can listen to his songs thousands of times and still figure out a new lyric on every listen.

Every artist does something special, and my aim with my music is to take my favorite thing from each one of my favorites and filter it though my own life experiences and musical capabilities to create a sound that’s familiar, yet new simultaneously.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

While I do think it’s important to think about short, medium, and long term goals, I’ve found for myself that it’s best to focus on more frequent bite-sized goals. It’s tempting to have a goal of winning a Grammy or to play a certain venue, but that can lead to disappointment when the highly specific and/or lofty goal isn’t met. Similarly, setting your sights too high early on can lead to a lack of seeing the forest for the trees, i. e. not acknowledging the little victories as they happen. Instead, if I make my goal “I’m going to book a show at a local venue by the end of the summer” I know that this is not only achievable, but also a stepping stone that can help lead to more fans, greater opportunities down the road, and (most importantly) a fun time doing what I love.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I was a freshman jazz-studies major in college, I remember thinking “If I could just follow chord changes better and play through them fluidly, then I’ll feel like I’ve made it,” but once I was able to do this, I didn’t feel as though I’d succeeded in anything. A similar thought process has repeated itself as long as I’ve been a musician, the skill or experience that feels immediately out of reach will always be the thing that is put on a pedestal. Inevitably, these desires come to fruition in time, but getting there never feels like I expect them to. I was talking to a friend who got the opportunity to tour with a famous jazz musician, and he noted that after returning from this journey he returned to playing the same $100 restaurant gigs he was playing before.

I used to think that “If I do X, I’ll have made it.” but I had to unlearn that it will ever feel like I’ve made it. What’s more important is enjoying the process and recognizing how great it is that you obtained your goal, while acknowledging you’re about to raise your own bar even higher and reset the whole process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://murphysmithmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murphysmith.music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064716858693
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMyu-rhQzxS-L5FX3reYJRw
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Hzqjd7MZw2072BZFA1TYu?si=Lou6p9KbTZqzpwiF6cVhrQ

Image Credits
Rhianna Hajduch, Aaron Levin