Who says lightning can never strike twice in the same place? New Hampshire’s rising country and western recording artist Nicole Knox Murphy has just released this fantastic sophomore CD Music Is In My Heart. Murphy’s follow up to 2014’s Full Circle is a mighty offering of heartfelt songs that anybody can relate to. Unpretentious, she keep her lyrics simple, plain spoken but vocally fills them up with feeling.
Her producer, Jerry Webb, turned the knobs and plays acoustic, electric, and bass guitar on this amazing disc at his The Project Room studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Nashville boy Drew Covington plays fiddle and pedal steel on some of these tracks.
Murphy opens her new disc with “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow.” This witty take on modern living is not only insightful but warm and amusing. Her voice is in fine form too. She wraps her pristine timbre around the melody with a perfectly light touch, like a velvet glove moving along a smooth surface. Webb’s backing instrumentation, too, is right on the money. Snappy electric guitar gives this song plenty of extra grit while Covington’s pedal steel contributes to Murphy’s emotive take on an American dream that needs an overhaul.
Murphy offers up more of her witty observations with “My 603,” her ode to her home state of New Hampshire. Reminiscent about everything from the Old Man On The Mountain to the Mount Washington Observatory to the lack of a sales tax, Murphy imbues her descriptions with sincerity. Her warm, chirpy vocal is like New Hampshire’s sweet maple syrup over your waffles or French toast.
Title track “Music Is In My Heart” traces Murphy’s career from being a child singer in her father’s country band to her current status as a local award winning artist. A girlish chirp in her vocal timbre lends this track her own personal layer of earnestness. There is also a simple but solid groove coming from an acoustic guitar that uncannily adds more magic to the song. It gives a sense of Murphy’s forward stride and the listener can feel her deep sense of purpose.
Murphy also has a knack for turning seemingly routine things in her life into good song material. Waltzing in with pretty fiddle and pedal steel, “One Man” blossoms like a flower as Murphy croons this beautiful ode to that “One Man” in her life, her husband. Her voice is silky smooth and flows like honey as she carries us through her tender reflections.
Another personal reflection, “The Neighborhood Bonfire” sums up what everybody feels about their own personal gathering of familiar residents. Murphy’s voice carries well through this take on neighborly life while Webb offers a rippling guitar line that conjures that sense of local camaraderie, vividly drawing up the vibe. Together, they make you feel like you’re there at the gathering.
Murphy’s ballad “Is There A Man Out There, Like This” could make the Country Top 40 radio charts. She nails the emotion of a good girl who is pining away for a respectful, sincere man. Her voice rides well over the climbing emotional heights of this song, making it something the listener can truly feel as well as relate to while enjoying the vocal performance.
“Rumble Strip” is a good party song. With a rock and roll spirit and a country hoedown vibe, Murphy gives a sense of adventure. Her song describes her tendency to hit rumble strips while she’s traveling on America’s highway. Covington rocks his fiddle while Murphy keeps this tune swinging with her flare for country and western style drama. There is flinty electric guitar dotting this landscape too.
“Puzzle Piece” is a deeply personal song for Murphy. It’s about her work in the Windham, New Hampshire school district where she is a Certified Instructional Assistant and a Licensed Nursing Assistant. She has spent the last 15 years working on a daily basis with nonverbal kids. Very young students with Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, brain damage, birth defects and other disabilities rely on her for their educational needs. The song moves in like a warm, guiding hand, with its smooth flowing groove and tender pedal steel melody. Murphy gives a solid insight into kids who are “trapped in all this silence” needing to be found, just like a “Puzzle Piece.” She walks us through the mind of kids who are saying “I’m in here/Look at me” by applying her vocal gifts aptly. Her soft, whispery voice reminds of the teacher who knows how to direct her instructions to individual needs.
“Wanna See, I Love You In Your Eyes” is another reflection on that most important relationship, her marriage. A down tempo, mellow glide number, Murphy draws her listener in with clever lyrical descriptions that appear simple on the surface but actually reflect deep emotions. After all these years, this woman is just as much in love with her husband as she was during their early courtship. She brings it to life vocally with her uncanny ability to put tremendous feeling in her voice, seemingly without effort. Meanwhile, Covington’s fiddle seems to cry out the emotion in the backdrop, and it all adds up to a potent, emotional impact.
Murphy closes out her ten track CD with another ode to her home town lifestyle. “In The Sugar Shack” is dedicated to Bob’s Sugar Shack in Candia, New Hampshire. With her warm vocal unfurling this lyrical description of how to create maple syrup and enjoy it, Murphy brings to life a fun, family and friends activity. The instrumentation behind her embraces her vocal with a steady beat, enticing banjo, and ripples of guitar that add to the running motion of this very likable song.
Murphy has beat the “sophomore slump” that plagues many artists. This new Music Is In My Heart CD rises above her successful Full Circle debut, reflecting much personal and artistic growth. Murphy can definitely go places using this second CD as a calling card.
