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LL: I’ve been a fan of the band Little Feat since the first time I heard ‘Dixie Chicken’! What
about this next chapter in your career?

SM: That was a truly terrific time that came about, through Bob Seger. Bob was contemplating
retiring in 1986 (thank goodness he didn’t!) Or at the very least, to come off the road, and raise
his two children; Cole and Samantha Seger. At any rate, he decided that this would be a perfect
time to employ a few of the musicians he’d been using for a long time, but only in the studio: Bill
Payne, Fred Tackett, Tim Cashion to name a few. Needless to say, it ended up being a very large
band…lol! What with Bill P.,

Tim C., Craig Frost, and of
course Bob himself, there
would be 4 keyboard
players, not to mention a
4-piece horn section….

So that’s how I first met Bill
P., and Fred Tackett, who
would later, the next year,
in fact, reform the band,
Little Feat. When they
started their reformation
CD, “Let It Roll”, with Craig
Fuller stepping into Lowell
George’s shoes, Bill asked
Bob and me to come and do
some backgrounds on the
record. Later, I would be
asked to do backgrounds
on the following two CD’s. At which point, Craig Fuller departed the band. Paul Barrere called
me and asked if I would like to do some preproduction at his house, ‘of course’, I said yes! They

were between record companies, and I was glad to help out. After the first day, I was asked to
sing one of their songs, so they could ‘get the right track feel’ on it. We recorded it to see how the
track held together, at which point they asked me point blank: “what would you do, if you found
yourself in the middle of nowhere, on a bus, with twelve other guys”??? And that’s how they asked
me to join the band, as a full member!!! I never regretted it, it really jump-started me writing
again as well, and I’ll be forever grateful to them all for that!

LL: You released your first album “Living The Blues” as The Shaun Murphy Band, in 2009.
What steered you towards the blues and how did the album come about please?

SM: Since I played the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, I was smitten by the Blues. I got a chance
to watch some of the greatest artists of the day; Muddy Waters, Luther Allison, Freddie King, and
so many more, but the one lady that absolutely stopped me in my tracks, and changed the
trajectory of my singing, was this force of nature of a woman, sauntering onto the stage in a very
unhurried fashion. When she opened her mouth to sing, I was completely won over. There will
never be another Big Mama Thornton!! My career has spread into many shapes and turns, but
always, in the back of my mind, was that fateful day with that fearsome delightful presence; Big
Mama Thornton!!!! I vowed that someday, I would ask her to whisper in my ear, and impart some
of that fury into my soul when I sang.