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Local Music Mondays is a weekly segment produced by WUKY's DeBraun Thomas. Check here for archived episodes, extended interviews, and extras.

Local Music Monday: Cellist Seth Murphy

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In this week's Local Music Monday we meet a classically trained musician who his carving his own path.

In 2008 Seth Murphy moved from Paducah to Lexington at the University of Kentucky. As a Cellist, Murphy has worked on a style that takes the Cello from a compositional instrument and turns it into an improvisational instrument. Since 2008, Murphy has been an integral part of many different groups in Lexington. In the Switchmen Murphy played bass says and it was something that allowed him to better himself as a musician.

“You know you can get similar sounds from both instruments, it’s just how you play em; I taught myself a lot of stuff too approaching the cello like a bass guitar and approaching a bass guitar like a cello, the instruments are tuned differently but they both have the same strings so you can put your fingers in the same place on each instrument and get a totally different sound.”

Murphy’s abilities as a Cellist and a bassist have led many different opportunities. Murphy plays with Warren Byrom and the Fabled Canelands, Bear Medicine and the UK Philharmonia Orchestra. While Murphy is known to fill both roles as a bassist and a cellist, he says his role in his newest group Bear Medicine allows him to draw from his classical roots in an unconventional way.

“And you have to look at playing the cello you know as a melodic instrument or as a bass instrument, but it’s been a great experience, I’ve really felt like I’ve had to push forward as far as writing parts and really really listening to the music, it’s a much more composed accurate songwriting process than anything else I’ve been involved in.”

Seth Murphy will be playing with Warren Byrom and the Fabled Canelands on April 24th at Al’s Bar and with Bear Medicine on April 25th at Willie’s Locally Known. More information about Bear Medicine can be found at Bear Medicine Music dot com.

DeBraun Thomas fell in love with radio at a young age but only had interest in working in radio after learning Funk musician Sly Stone got his start in radio. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Thomas moved to Lexington in 2009 to attend the University of Kentucky and pursue a career in radio. Thomas joined WRFL in 2009 and through the UK school of Journalism, Thomas had 2 features air on WUKY. In October of 2012, Thomas began interning at WUKY and produced the Unghosting of Medgar Evers. In August of 2013 Thomas became a staff member at WUKY and since that time, Thomas regularly produces the weekly segment Local Music Mondays which highlights local musicians in Lexington. Thomas hosts the Crunkadelic Funk Show which airs Saturday nights at 9pm and also produced a documentary on the 50th anniversary of the March on Frankfort. In addition to producing and hosting a radio show, Thomas also explores his other passion as a musician in Lexington.
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