by WGO staff
Emerging East Coast artist Rob Murphy is releasing his new single, “Ghosts”, on May 20th to pay homage to his hometown of New Waterford on Cape Breton Island.
With his raspy, weathered vocal style, drawing on influences like Johnny Reid, David Gray and Damien Rice, Murphy has been gaining momentum over the past few years as a singer and songwriter.
His first single, “300 Days”, was released in 2017 and brought critical attention to Mental Health wait times in Cape Breton with the song being used by the Canadian Mental Health Association for Mental Health Month. He released an EP of the same name later that year. Featuring a mix of roots, pop and Americana music, it was well-received and had over 60,000 streams online.
In 2019, Murphy showcased at the 2019 EMA’S in Prince Edward Island on the Breakout Artist Stage and in the summer he released “O’La La” which received national, commercial and community radio play. Since then he released two more singles, “Give Me A Sign” and “You”, a duet with Lila Tighe.
Earlier this year Murphy was named one of the top 10 Artists to watch out for nationally by CBC Searchlight after submitting “O’La La” to the national competition. Most recently Rob was accepted to The Shot which is a National Artist Development Competition that will take place in Toronto this Fall.
Songwriting has always come naturally for Murphy. He has a natural ability to create songs that listeners can easily relate to whether fiction or reality, and he admits to writing songs rather quickly, anywhere from an hour to a week. But “Ghosts” is a song that is unlike anything Murphy has ever written.
“Ghosts was a difficult song to write,” Murphy explains. “There are lyrics in the song that I wrote 20 years ago so this was actually 20 years in the making. I grew up in New Waterford, Cape Breton Island—it was the home of two coal mines which employed hundreds to thousands of people. My father was a coal miner and a very hard worker. He was a very proud man. When the decision to close the mines in Cape Breton came about, coal mining towns on the Island quickly became run down, businesses closed and substance abuse ran rampant.”
With “Ghosts”, Murphy wanted to not only capture the story in the song but also to showcase his hometown’s rugged coastlines and natural beauty, which can be seen in the video produced by Matthew Ingraham.
“Ghosts” is available now on all streaming platforms and will premier on several national radio programs in Canada and Radio SoBro, a singer/songwriter Station in Nashville, Tennessee. For more about Rob Murphy and his music visit robmurphymusic.com.
