Posted 2:06 AM by sport

A new and gratifying review of the album, dear reader. This time it's from my birthstate, Texas.
With all these lovely folks writing all these lovely words, surely SOMEBODY would be willing to play some shows with an old fellow? Anybody? Is this thing on?

http://www.fwweekly.com/issues/2003-03-20/listenup3.html

Sport Murphy
Uncle (Kill Rock Stars Records)
By Matthew Smith

The thought of yet another 9-11 album probably induces more yawns than interest by now - but don't run off just yet.

Mike "Sport" Murphy-Texas-born but New York-raised-lost his nephew, a fireman, in the World Trade Center disaster. Uncle, Murphy's third album, is a tribute to his fallen family member.

An expected pall of sadness and loss hangs over the disc. "No Fair" is a mournful ballad to those gone on. "Sleepy River" works as both lullaby and funeral dirge. But the c.d. is not total gloom. Although quiet and contemplative, this album is also filled with a sense of hope.

Unlike Springsteen's The Rising, which will probably become one of those albums greatly admired but seldom played the further 9-11 recedes into history, Uncle-because it uses that event as a jumping-off point, not a base-feels more relevant. Apart from a few direct references to "piss-proud swine" and people afraid to read the newspapers, Uncle works as a celebration of life's fragility and preciousness.

The album's history aside, Murphy emerges as a bright new voice in American music. He has the storytelling chops of Springsteen and Dylan and the inventiveness of Tom Waits and Brian Wilson. Warm string and brass sections share space with barroom singalongs and plaintive spirituals. "Bird in the House," funny and harrowing at once, sounds like Waits doing the Kinks.

This is adult rock 'n' roll at its best. Not the work of some over-the-hill band still releasing pointless albums in attempt to recapture faded glory and milk boomer nostalgia, but of a mature, thoughtful musician, full of genuine purpose and soul.