On Friday, guitarist Matt “Guitar” Murphy, best known for his role as the guitarist for fictional-band-turned-real-band The Blues Brothers, passed away at the age of 88. His death was confirmed by his nephew, Floyd Murphy Jr.
While his exploits as a member of The Blues Brothers put him in the spotlight on the silver screen, Murphy shined the brightest as a longtime sideman for some of the greatest blues musicians of his generation, from Howlin’ Wolf to Memphis Slim to Muddy Waters to James Cotton.
Notes Deadline:
Murphy was born in Sunflower, MS., in December 1929, moving to Memphis with his family when he was a toddler. Murphy and his brother, Floyd, became a fixture on the Memphis blues scene when they were in their teens, and Matt moved on to pick up a legendary résumé as a sideman for some of the greatest blues musicians ever. In the 1970s, he was best known as a sideman with harpist James Cotton before joining in the Blues Brothers.
Murphy fronted his own band starting in 1982 and toured up until recently. He played a reunion show with Cotton in 2010, and appeared at the April 2013 Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival at Madison Square Garden in New York.
As we remember the late guitarist today, watch Murphy and the Blues Brothers deliver a live New Year’s Eve performance at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco below:
The Blues Brothers – 12/31/78 – San Francisco – Full Video
[Video: Blues / R&B on MV]
You can also watch the famous scene from The Blue Brothers film (1980) when Elwood and Jake Blues (played by Dan Aykroyd and the John Belushi) are “getting the band back together” and go to Matt “Guitar” Murphy’s diner to recruit him, only to be told off for their attitude by the great Aretha Franklin, who plays Murphy’s wife, in a legendary onscreen performance:
Punishment For Blasphemy – Aretha Franklin [The Blues Brothers]
[Video: Dinerboy11]