Marty Murray

NIAGARA FALLS -­ After 26 years playing Niagara's bars, pubs, festivals and wherever else he's invited, Marty Murray figured a CD was overdue. His debut release 'Ghosts' has been so long in the making, CDs weren't even around when he wrote some of it. "Every time I went to do this, something happened that set me back," says the jovial singer/songwriter. "It was mainly money and bad timing." He thought it was time a decade ago, until a divorce put his life on hold.
Just as the stars were aligned again, his equipment was stolen. Add to that a job with stressful hours, and 'Ghosts' was being haunted by delays. "I've been through ten bad years, which the second half of the album kind of chronicles," says Murray. "But I knew I'd get it done eventually. The way technology is now, you don't have to go into a big studio to record any more. It's not like it used to be. The equipment has gotten so good that you can buy it to use at home. "It's just mainly using a good microphone and knowing what you're doing."

A disquieting, acoustic album, 'Ghosts' is a throwback to his favourite era of music - the early '70s. It was a time for songwriters like Cat Stevens and Jim Croce, before disco and punk took over. "That's what I grew up with," says the 48-year-old Murray. "That's when I was learning how to play the guitar." Though he loves all styles of music, Murray's sound has barely budged. The oldest song on the CD, 'It¹s Been a Long Time', was written 30 years ago and blends right in. "I haven't really changed (the songs) that much. I don't try to be trendy - I just write what I write, and I think they sound just as good as when I first wrote them." The CD is full of old wounds: 'You Run' and 'Love Lost to Cocaine' painfully revisit a relationship torn apart by drugs. 'Truck Driving Man' is a haunting tune inspired by a story Murray read in the Review about a man who returned to his job of driving rigs, only to go missing. He had pulled over to get some rest at a truck stop and died in his sleep. Murray had spoken to the man at a bar just six months earlier. The CD's only cover song is a stirring version of Ron Sexsmith's 'Trains' - one Niagara singer paying tribute to another. "It was a healing process, some of the more heavy songs," he says. "Usually when I write a song, I've got a situation or something that's on my chest that I've got to get off. It helps getting them out, getting it written down and performing it. It's like therapy."

He doesn't think the next CD will take 26 years. "I'll be singing about my own ghost," he laughs. "I've got some ideas for songs for the next one. It'll be similar to this one where I go back to some of my old tunes and mix 'em up with newer ones. "I'm thinking that the next album is probably going to have a sunnier outlook than this one. I'm in a lot nicer place now."

- The Niagara Review