David Lee Murphy at the MAC

David Lee Murphy is best recognized by his massive hit single “Dust On The Bottle”. But he is also known as one of Country Music’s best songwriters. He has written songs for superstar artists like Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Hank Williams, Jr. and others.

Murphy developed his musical style as a teenager in Southern Illinois. Although both parents were schoolteachers, he was an indifferent student. Instead of studying books, he studied the sounds of such “outlaw” country musicians as Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. He was also deeply influenced by southern rock bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers and ZZ Top.

Pursuing a career in music, Murphy moved to Nashville and spent years honing his craft as a songwriter. He also formed a band, The Blue Tick Hounds, and played the honkytonks of Middle Tennessee and clubs throughout the South.

“I really concentrated on my songwriting”, Murphy states. “I wanted to get better so I could record my own songs.” Several rough demos of Murphy’s compositions, including the song “Party Crowd” caught the attention of MCA executive Renee Bell who passed Murphy’s music along to Grammy and CMA Award winning producer Tony Brown (George Strait, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill and others). After hearing the song demos, Brown, who had been following Murphy’s progress as a performer and songwriter, decided it was time to sign Murphy as an artist to MCA Records.