Bolton's George Murray is still making music decades later

2022-07-30 16:13:16 By : Mr. Ivys Liang

BOLTON -- George Murray can speak to the durability of music, as a lifelong musician and retired instrument salesman.

His latest work, “Autumn Light,” is a solo piano piece that he rediscovered on an old metal cassette tape and remastered with his engineer Peter Linnane for the current era after shelving it at least two decades ago.

Murray said Linnane worked his “electronic magic” to get the master tape the way it sounded when originally recorded, minus the issues Murray had with it. He said he was “blown away” with the results, which is “meditative, a mix of classical and new age influences.”

“I don't remember a time when I didn't do music. My dad said that as soon as I could walk, I was often at the piano. Not banging, but picking out individual notes. Before I could read I picked out records by their label color, and the patterns of words printed on the labels,” Murray said.

His parents, both musicians, played an eclectic mix of music including everything from Latin percussion to Beethoven symphonies.

Formal lessons began at age 8 or 9 with the clarinet.  He played the only bass clarinet in the school band, but by 14 quit that and went “full force” on the electric guitar, forming rock bands through high school while playing and composing on the piano. He eventually switched to acoustic guitar, his “compositional rocket ship,” and got into alternative tunings.

He said others call him “the upside down and backwards guitarist” because he takes a “right-handed Martin guitar and flip it upside down to play lefty without changing the string configuration.”

Murray can also play drums, bass and synthesizers, but considers the acoustic guitar and piano his “muses.” Sometimes lyrics come with the music; other times he doesn’t want words in the way.

With composing, he failed in the past to write on a strict schedule and said “sometimes songs will just come, fully formed” and he just just has to figure out how to play them.  He said many songs have been written while he’s walking in the woods or sitting by the ocean.

“What I've come up with is that I'm just a very sensitive antenna - that music is all around us and I have been able somehow to pick up on that,” Murray said.

He earned a college degree in human services, but hated dealing with the politics of the places he tried to work. With a minor in music composition, he ended up working in local music stores for many years instead. He said he “loved getting people started on their own musical path” and his degree did “help a lot with instrument sales, listening to customers and finding what they needed and wanted.”

“Music has been my life, pretty much,” Murray said.  “(It’s) has always been my primary focus, by a wide mile.”

He said the “most obvious benefit of making music is that once you're happy with whatever level you aspire to, it's yours. It can't be taken away from you and you will always have it, barring physical limitations. You can bring it everywhere, and share it with people who want to listen.”

But sharing music with others also comes with downsides requiring developing “a bit of a thick skin” against “envious self-appointed critics and such.”  He’s found it helpful to have a few trusted listeners who are completely honest and thoughtful in their critiques.

For Murray, that is especially his brother, Davld (who is the artist that allows his paintings to be used as album covers for Murray’s online music).  As the oldest of six children, Murray said his family has always been supportive of his musical adventures, with everyone having their favorite songs and albums.

Since his retirement, his self-imposed job is to “sort through well over 100 tapes, CDs, and DAT tapes, etc., that I've recorded over the years.” Some, like “Autumn Light” are reclaimed; he said he’s “finding a mixed bag of good music, then stuff that just makes me laugh.”

Murray used to play live, but doesn’t do that as much anymore, although he has superb memories of “great times playing in an old movie theater an 1800s barn, and other unique places.”

“The Internet is, truly, a mixed bag when it comes to music. The great part is that I have people all over the world listening. Bangladesh? Really? That's incredible to me. I wish I could chat with some of the people who have really gone through my catalog, to see what they have liked best, but also find out about their lives,” he said.

He added, “It's wonderful to me that I've been able to inspire and move people through music. I've hoped that the musical 'ripple effect' will help make lives a little better.”

However, he said streaming music online provides “pretty much no financial gain for a little guy like myself” versus there used to be more ways to monetize music when it was analog.

Murray has five full albums online including “Autumn Light,” all of which can be purchased on CD by request. “Ocean Poem” and “They Walk by Night” are solo guitar; he said the latter is “a little more experimental with alternate tunings.” 

"The Night Album" and "Train of Hope" are both piano and vocal albums.

His music can be found on iTunes and Spotify.  Contact Murray at leftygeorgemurray@gmail.com.