Michael Martin Murphey's Cowboy Christmas © 2016 tour begins in Laramie, Wyoming at the Gryphon Theater on November 25, 2016 and ends in Fort Worth, Texas at Bass Hall on December 19, though Murph encourages checking the website for additional shows. All of the Cowboy Christmas shows can be found at michaelmartinmurphey.com/.
 
The genesis of Murph’s Cowboy Christmas harks back to Anson, Texas in 1885. That was the date and place of the first Cowboys’ Christmas Ball, a festive celebration that found native New Yorker and newly arrived Anson resident Larry Chittenden so inspired by the dancing and merriment he witnessed that he penned a poem titled  “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.” His six-stanza verse has been set to music and remains a traditional Western signpost of the holidays. 
 
“The spirit of that grew throughout the world and people want that feeling again,” Murphey says about the inaugural Anson Cowboys’ Christmas Ball. “It’s simple and essential – share a meal, have a dance and enjoy the spirit of Christmas.”
     
To commemorate his love of Western music and his hearth-warmed affection for yuletide tunes, Murphey recorded three thematic holiday albums, 1991’s Cowboy Christmas: Cowboy Songs II, 1999’s Acoustic Christmas Carols, and 2002’s Cowboy Christmas III. He’s parlayed his passion for the Cowboy Christmas shows by writing the foreword for Paul H. Carlson’s Dancin’ In Anson: A History of the Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball published by Texas Tech University Press.
     
Murphey never forgets Anson. His Cowboy Christmas Tour heads to the West Texas city on Dec. 15, 2016.
    
“I’m really thrilled that tradition has been really preserved and remains alive,” he said. “Every culture has its way of celebrating Christmas. Texas has its own Christmas tradition and America has its own Christmas tradition. We are the most Christmas loving country in the world.”
   
Preserving the beauty of the West, the true cowboy culture, and the sonic tapestry of Western music has been a lifelong mission for this Dallas native. Murphey soaked up the cowboy experience while growing up in Oak Cliff by venturing off to his grandfather’s ranches in Rockwall and Fairfield, Texas during weekends and summers. He would bring that Western sensibility to his music starting with the cosmic cowboy movement in the early ‘70s, and then encompassing his huge 1975 pop hit “Wildfire” as well as his hit-making ‘80s period in mainstream country. He later came full circle with his acclaimed forays into cowboy music, the Cowboy Songs series in the 1990s, and the more recent bluegrass opuses such as 2009’s Buckaroo Blue Grass and 2010’s Buckaroo Blue Grass II.  
    
Murphey’s new album, High Stakes: Cowboy Songs VII, speaks directly to his... continue reading this article on MMM's website and make sure to check out the amazing video series produced by Spalding's terrific in-house production team!