After two albums of celebrating the Dead \u2014 as in Grateful \u2014 Dave McMurray decided it was time to breathe a little life back into his music.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Nov. 14, the veteran Detroit saxophonist, flutist, bandleader and songwriter releases \u201cI Love Life Even When I\u2019m Hurting,\u201d his first album of mostly original songs since his \u201cBlack Light Collective\u201d album in 2020. It follows two \u201cDeadication\u201d albums comprised of Grateful Dead songs, which certainly elevated McMurray\u2019s profile with a new audience, but was never intended to be his sole mode of music-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it was coming, because I\u2019m always writing music and I needed an outlet for it,\u201d explains McMurray, 70, a Cranbrook Schools alumnus. \u201cAnd it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, I am the outlet.\u2019 I knew one way or another, I was going to do original music this time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the Dead audience I\u2019ve acquired. I didn\u2019t want to totally abandon it (a version of Jerry Garcia\u2019s \u2018The Wheel\u2019 closes McMurray\u2019s new album, in fact); I just wanted to add more original music and hit something that\u2019s real close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Music, period, has been extremely close to McMurray throughout his life, of course.<\/p>\n
A fan and player from an early age, he studied urban studies and psychology at Wayne State University and worked as a mental health counselor for a time. But music held a greater sway as he played jazz, rock, funk and more in Detroit bands such as Griot Galaxy, Detroit Energy Asylum and Was (Not Was), the latter giving him a global stature that led to session work \u2014 via co-founder Don Was \u2014 with the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Bob James and many more. McMurray also spent nine years in Kid Rock\u2019s Twisted Brown Trucker Band, served as music director for Kem and toured with the late French singer Johnny Hallyday.<\/p>\n These days, he\u2019s also part of Don Was\u2019 Pan-Detroit Ensemble, which released its debut album, \u201cGroove in the Face of Adversity,\u201d last month.<\/p>\n \u201cDave\u2019s just an immense talent,\u201d says Was, who produced \u201cI Love Life\u2026\u201d for the prestigious Blue Note Records label he runs, along with the two \u201cDeadication\u201d sets and McMurray\u2019s 2018 release \u201cMusic Is Life.\u201d \u201cHe can play anything, any style, and fits into any situation. He\u2019s an extremely versatile player with great, great taste.\u201d<\/p>\n For McMurray, \u201cI Love Life\u2026\u201d caps what he says \u201chas been a fortunate year, playing with (Pan Detroit) and the other situations I\u2019ve been playing in, very adventurous situations \u2026 where the goal is to be the most creative player that you can be. It\u2019s about your creativity and your sound and your sentiments, what you think.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody once told me, \u2018Play what you want to play.\u2019 I said, \u2018No, tell me if you hear something.\u2019 They said: \u2018I want you to use your sentiments, what you do. I trust what you\u2019re gonna play.\u2019 \u2026 I listened to what he said, and he was right. That\u2019s the best way.\u201d<\/p>\n The nine-track \u201cI Love Life\u2026\u201d was recorded in the fall of 2024 at Rustbelt Studios in Royal Oak on the heels of the Pan Detroit Ensemble album. Members of that crew \u2014 Was, keyboardist Luis Resto, drummer Jeff Canada, guitarist Wayne Gerard and percussionist Mahindi Masai \u2014 play on most of the songs, with McMurray and Kem reuniting for an arrangement of the late Al Jarreau\u2019s \u201cWe Got By.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually recorded live, as old school as I could get,\u201d McMurray recalls. \u201cWe did a few overdubs after, but mostly we went in and hit it, and that\u2019s what you hear.\u201d<\/p>\n McMurray had \u201ca ton\u201d of ideas around for songs, while \u201cI Love Life\u2019s\u2026\u201d title track came first and expresses a sentiment painfully close to him these days. \u201cOver the last couple of years, I had a lot of real close friends pass. I watched a couple of \u2019em get sick,\u201d McMurray, who\u2019s still convalescing from his own back surgery, explains. \u201cI was talking to a good friend of mine, talking about other people, and he mentioned that, \u2018I think that person just gave up.\u2019 And I was like: \u2018Wow. Whoa. \u2026 \u2019cause I\u2019m a real positive person. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that; \u2018They just gave up? Really?!<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I just said, \u2018I love life, man, even when I\u2019m hurting\u2019 \u2026 and when I did, I said, \u2018OK, you gotta do that\u2019 and everything fell into place. I wrote a song and then a poem, just trying to get a positive message out there, and everything else followed.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that sounds crazy,\u201d he adds, with a laugh, \u201cbut that\u2019s inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n McMurray says much of his material, for this album and in general, began at the piano. \u201cI just start coming up with ideas and record everything,\u201d he says. \u201cI hear the tone of the music, not necessarily the notes or the tempos or anything, but just the tone, and I follow that. I might come back the next day and listen to what I did and say, \u2018That\u2019s a nice idea, keep that,\u2019 and go from there. It\u2019s like a palette to me. I think of (music) as colors, like painting.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cI Love Life\u2026\u201d songs draw from McMurray\u2019s go-to templates, weaving together sources such as McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, among others. He gives his flute an airing on \u201cThe Plum Blossom\u201d by fellow Detroit native Yusef Lateef, who McMurray used to watch perform at Baker\u2019s Keyboard Lounge. \u201cFind Your Peace,\u201d meanwhile, was inspired by a meet-up with Griot Galaxy bandmate Tani Tabbal during a Pan Detroit Ensemble performance in upstate New York..<\/p>\n \u201cWe Got By,\u201d the title track to Jarreau\u2019s debut album, also comes from a personal connection for both McMurray and Kem. \u201cI jumped on the Al Jarreau bandwagon before anybody knew him, and (Kem) was a big fan, too,\u201d McMurray says. \u201cWhen (Kem) asked me to play on his first record, I heard his (songs) and said, \u2018Whoa, you sound like Al Jarreau!\u2019 He was definitely influenced by that. And I said during the sessions that, \u2018Man, I\u2019m gonna get him to do (\u2018We Got By\u2019) someday.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was years ago, and I just never forgot it. When it came to this record, I said, \u2018I wanna do it,\u2019 and I knew he would be excited about it \u2019cause it was an important song for him, too, and he took his time and did it right, and it was a great anchor for the record. Thirty years in the making, but it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Wheel,\u201d from the late Garcia\u2019s self-titled 1972 solo album but a concert favorite of the Dead\u2019s, is a nod to the \u201cDeadication\u201d fan base and sports vocals by Detroit-area mainstay Herschel Boone. \u201cIt was the last thing we recorded,\u201d McMurray says, \u201cand we did, I think, only two or three takes. We didn\u2019t talk about it; everybody vibed and didn\u2019t realize what they were doing. It went so far out and came back in, just did everything on its own. When we did it, I knew the take (that\u2019s on the album) was the one.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Pan Detroit Ensemble will keep McMurray busy in the coming months (the group tours again in January), he\u2019s putting together his plans for \u201cI Love Life\u2026\u201d. In addition to his release-night concert at Third Man Records, he\u2019s also lined up a show at the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee in March, with more gigs on the horizon, he hopes. A third \u201cDeadication\u201d album is also on the radar.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be doing this \u2019til I can\u2019t,\u201d McMurray says. \u201cEven if I\u2019m not playing (live), I\u2019m still gonna be recording music at the house, \u2019cause that\u2019s what I do. And I\u2019m at this point where you go: \u2018This is it. This is me. This is the way I play.\u2019 I\u2019m always striving to try to get better, but I\u2019m content to go in my own style.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd as long as the brain is working, I\u2019ll be doing it. I\u2019ll be creative in one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave McMurray celebrates the release of his new album, \u201cI Love Life Even When I\u2019m Hurting,\u201d at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 at Third Man Records, 441 W. Canfield St., Detroit. 313-209-5205 or thirdmanrecords.com.<\/em><\/p>\n Dave McMurray\u2019s latest album and release-day show is one of several notable metro area music happenings this week. Also on the radar are \u2026<\/p>\n \u2022 Birmingham singer and songwriter Ethan Daniel Davidson releases \u201cLear,\u201d his second album of the year and recorded \u2014 like \u201cCordelia,\u201d which came out May 30 \u2014 with producers Luther Dickinson and David Katznelson in Coldwater, Mississippi. Out on Friday, Nov. 14 on Davidson\u2019s Blue Arrow Records label, the seven-song set features a guest appearance by the late Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts\u2019 son Duane on the track \u201cNot Breaking Harts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 In the wake of guitarist Sammy Boller\u2019s just-released EP \u201cMidnight Garden,\u201d the band Citizen Zero is reuniting for its first concert since 2018 on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Machine Shop, 3539 Dort Highway, Flint. Doors at 7 p.m. 810-715-2650 or themachineshop.info. The group is also working on new material it hopes to release in 2026.<\/p>\n \u2022 After laying low for more than a year and a half following keyboardist Evan Mercer\u2019s conviction on child pornography charges in January 2024, Mac Saturn has returned with a new song, \u201cTake Time to Make Time,\u201d and a tour that began Oct. 20. With more new music promised for 2026, the 13-date trek wraps up Saturday, Nov. 15 at Saint Andrew\u2019s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-8961 or saintandrewsdetroit.com.<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.macombdaily.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After two albums of celebrating the Dead \u2014 as in Grateful \u2014 Dave McMurray decided it was time to breathe a little life back into his music. On Friday, Nov. 14, the veteran Detroit saxophonist, flutist, bandleader and songwriter releases \u201cI Love Life Even When I\u2019m Hurting,\u201d his first album of mostly original songs since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2142719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[21741,22482],"class_list":["post-2142721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-things-to-do"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Motor-City-music-veteran-gets-back-to-his-own-songs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2142721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2142721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2142721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2142722,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2142721\/revisions\/2142722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2142719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2142721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2142721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2142721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dave](\"https:\/\/www.macombdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TOP-L-Arts-McMurray1109-02.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1\")
Significant sounds<\/h4>\n
![\"Ethan](\"https:\/\/www.macombdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TOP-L-Arts-1109-02.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1\")
![\"Citizen](\"https:\/\/www.macombdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TOP-L-Arts-1109-01.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1\")
![\"Mac](\"https:\/\/www.macombdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/TOP-L-Arts-1109-03.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1\")