Dan Murphy is best known as the guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 for the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum

Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983.The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with the original line-up consisting of Dan Murphy, Dave Pirner, Karl Mueller and Pat Morley. The latter was replaced by Grant Young in...

. He is also a member of Golden Smog

Golden Smog

Golden Smog is a loosely connected group of musicians comprised, at various times, of members of Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Run Westy Run, The Honeydogs and Big Star...

.

History

Murphy was the secondary songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 in Soul Asylum, with Dave Pirner

Dave Pirner

David Anthony "Dave" Pirner is an American songwriter, singer, and producer best known for being the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock/grunge band, Soul Asylum.-Biography:...

 responsible for bulk of the band's material. Some of Murphy's solo writing credits include "Can't Go Back" from Made to Be Broken

Made to Be Broken

Made to Be Broken is the second full-length album from Soul Asylum. It is also the first of three albums of Soul Asylum to be released in 1986....

, "Cartoon" off Hang Time

Hang Time (album)

Hang Time is a 1988 album from the band Soul Asylum. Released on A&M Records, it was the band's major-label debut.Singer/guitarist Dave Pirner wrote the majority of the album. Guitarist Dan Murphy chimed in with "Cartoon," released as one of the album's singles...

and "Gullible's Travels" from And the Horse They Rode in On

And the Horse They Rode in On

And the Horse They Rode In On is the fifth album by Minneapolis rockers Soul Asylum. It was produced by Steve Jordan with Joe Blaney.The vinyl, cassette, and CD versions of the album have different, but related, cover art.-Track listing:...

. Additionally, he and Pirner co-wrote "Easy Street" which appeared on And the Horse They Rode in On, and he co-wrote "Promises Broken" off Let Your Dim Light Shine

Let Your Dim Light Shine

Let Your Dim Light Shine is an album from 1995 from the band Soul Asylum. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, Grave Dancers Union, the band's breakout release...

with Marc Perlman.

In 1988, Murphy formed Golden Smog, a Minneapolis supergroup

Supergroup (music)

In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

 made up of members of The Replacements, The Jayhawks and Run Westy Run. Murphy was credited as 'David Spear' on the group's debut album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Down By The Old Mainstream, because of contractual obligations.

In 1992, Murphy appeared on the debut solo album by former Replacements drummer Chris Mars

Chris Mars

Chris Mars is an American artist and musician. He was the drummer for seminal Minneapolis, Minnesota alternative rock band The Replacements and later joined informal supergroup Golden Smog before launching a solo career. He is also a painter, and has more or less left music behind to concentrate...

, Horseshoes And Hand Grenades.

Murphy also has an antiques

Antiques

An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...

business.

External links

• Harpmagazine.com
• The Soul Asylum Band records are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.