Ben Murphie
Ben Murphie is a London based singer-songwriter who has been greatly inspired by the music of Bert Jansch. 29-year-old Ben writes: “I have been playing the acoustic guitar for eleven years now and am thoroughly interested in folk and fingerstyle playing. I have played on the London live music scene for five years and have played shows at The Troubadour, Ronnie Scott’s, Notting Hill Arts Club and Paper Dress Vintage. I first came into contact with the Bert Jansch Foundation after attending the fantastic folk guitar workshop you run with Jon Riley and Thomas Fairhurst – it was a fascinating insight into Bert’s work.”
Blues Run the Game
A song Bert by Jackson C Frank for Bert Jansch
“I first became familiar with Bert Jansch’s Music through his own arrangement of ‘Blues Run the Game’, which I spent many hours learning when I first started to become serious about studying guitar technique and folk playing. I dug deep into albums such as Bert’s debut record and ‘LA Turnaround’and feel that my own music and live playing has been informed by the full and intricate folk sound Bert was able to achieve. My first guitar was my mothers’Yamaha FG-30 LTD and I feel I was attracted to Bert’s music in part from the distinctive Yamaha sound it made.”
The guitar was wonderful to play – It sounded incredible and made me dizzy. It has been a huge honour to find myself part of this project and of a musical tradition that involves Bert Jansch, Johnny Marr, Bernard Butler and all the other great musicians. I will remember it always. I can’t wait to see the final product with all of the videos.
