Elliott Murphy is touring the East Coast and will be stopping at the Fairfield Theatre Company tonight where up-and-coming singer-songwriter Jann Klose will open for him.
Murphy has been in the music business for more than 40 years.
He’s had manys downs and ups — in terms of the business end of music — but has kept writing, performing and recording beautiful songs.
Murphy lives in Paris and is one of those great distinctively American performers — like Dexter Gordon and Josephine Baker — who has, ironically, found a more loyal following in Europe than in his home country.
The latest album, “Notes from the Underground,” gathers 11 gorgeous, cinematic tunes, ranging in subject matter from the Civil War to western movies and the supernatural.
Murphy writes books and magazine articles as well as songs. You can see that diversity of interests and styles in his deeply textured songs. Part of the pleasure in listening to “Underground” is in not knowing where the next song is going to take you.
The performer’s delightful media representative Anne Leighton asked me if I would do a brief Q&A session with Murphy and Klose before tonight’s show. The request was a totally unexpected honor. No songwriter should be pressed to nail down the mysterious creative process of putting words and music together, but it should be very interesting to listen to Murphy and Klose talk about their work and the challenges of maintaining a music career in this wild period of media revolution.
I’ll get off quickly so that the audience can enjoy an evening of what I am sure will be wonderful music.
(Tonight’s show begins at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 7. Tickets are $17-$22. For more information call 259-1036 or go online to www.fairfieldtheatre.org.)
