Biography
Growing up between northern New Jersey and North Carolina, guitarist, singer and songwriter Michael Powers, born Michael Murchison, absorbed the sounds of rural southern life along with gospel and blues traditions from an early age. His father, James B. Murchison, had served as a Merchant Marine and circled the globe before establishing a small store in Bayonne; he split his time between northern New Jersey and seasonal work in North Carolina’s tobacco fields, which meant young Michael spent summers immersed in the region where neighbors gathered nightly on porches to play music.
Although his parents separated when he was five, Powers kept traveling south with his father each summer. His mother, Doris, purchased his first guitar by redeeming a book of savings stamps. When a family friend visited and demonstrated a piece on his own instrument, Powers immediately retreated to his room and reproduced the melody exactly, prompting Doris to recognize his gift and enforce a rigorous practice regimen. She also shaped his listening with her own discerning choices, introducing recordings by Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday.
At twelve, Powers witnessed a performance by Jimmy Reed that crystallized his ambition to become a blues musician. Soon afterward he watched the Beatles and the Rolling Stones make their landmark appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, further intensifying his dedication to the guitar. Jimi Hendrix would exert another profound influence, one that remains audible throughout Powers’ recorded work.
While still in high school he assembled his first group, the RB ZigZags, and subsequently played in several other ensembles. With one of those bands, the Adlibs, he toured nationally and shared bills with the Everly Brothers, Kool and the Gang, the Box Tops and Richie Havens; the Adlibs also featured him on their hit single “Boy from NYC.”
Less than a month after graduating high school, harmonica master James Cotton invited him to join his touring band, leading Powers to depart the Adlibs. Once that roadwork concluded, he formed Moonbeam, a group that stayed intact for thirteen years, crisscrossing the United States and opening for James Brown, Bo Diddley and the Ronettes. Only after those years on the road did Powers begin releasing music and performing under his own name, eventually collaborating onstage and in the studio with Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry, among other blues figures.
His discography includes the 2004 debut Onyx Root on Baryon Records and the October 2006 follow-up Prodigal Son on the same label; both sets earned favorable notice from critics and broadcasters in the United States and Great Britain. On Prodigal Son he is backed by several leading New York City blues session musicians: Jimmy Vivino on guitar, bassist Michael Merritt, drummer James Wormworth and guitarist Jimi Zhivago. The album also presents fresh interpretations of Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand,” Jimmy Reed’s “Oh John” and Blind Gary Davis’ “You Got to Go Down.”
Although his parents separated when he was five, Powers kept traveling south with his father each summer. His mother, Doris, purchased his first guitar by redeeming a book of savings stamps. When a family friend visited and demonstrated a piece on his own instrument, Powers immediately retreated to his room and reproduced the melody exactly, prompting Doris to recognize his gift and enforce a rigorous practice regimen. She also shaped his listening with her own discerning choices, introducing recordings by Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday.
At twelve, Powers witnessed a performance by Jimmy Reed that crystallized his ambition to become a blues musician. Soon afterward he watched the Beatles and the Rolling Stones make their landmark appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, further intensifying his dedication to the guitar. Jimi Hendrix would exert another profound influence, one that remains audible throughout Powers’ recorded work.
While still in high school he assembled his first group, the RB ZigZags, and subsequently played in several other ensembles. With one of those bands, the Adlibs, he toured nationally and shared bills with the Everly Brothers, Kool and the Gang, the Box Tops and Richie Havens; the Adlibs also featured him on their hit single “Boy from NYC.”
Less than a month after graduating high school, harmonica master James Cotton invited him to join his touring band, leading Powers to depart the Adlibs. Once that roadwork concluded, he formed Moonbeam, a group that stayed intact for thirteen years, crisscrossing the United States and opening for James Brown, Bo Diddley and the Ronettes. Only after those years on the road did Powers begin releasing music and performing under his own name, eventually collaborating onstage and in the studio with Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry, among other blues figures.
His discography includes the 2004 debut Onyx Root on Baryon Records and the October 2006 follow-up Prodigal Son on the same label; both sets earned favorable notice from critics and broadcasters in the United States and Great Britain. On Prodigal Son he is backed by several leading New York City blues session musicians: Jimmy Vivino on guitar, bassist Michael Merritt, drummer James Wormworth and guitarist Jimi Zhivago. The album also presents fresh interpretations of Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand,” Jimmy Reed’s “Oh John” and Blind Gary Davis’ “You Got to Go Down.”
Albums
