John Murry on his novel way of songwriting, Liverpool and The Beatles

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Above the Ship and Mitre, John Murry is playing to an audience of no more than 20 people.

His stage is an alcove and his backdrop a table on which stands a figure of the Virgin Mary.

In general, the mood of the night is jovial but, once a string of Murry’s guitar is plucked, silence falls.

The mini tour of intimate shows has brought him to Liverpool, a city he loves for its people and music. 

Just across the sea is Murry’s home in Ireland, where he moved after struggling with heroin addiction following a divorce.

His past also involves childhood traumas, but the singer-songwriter has taken those experiences and turned them into touching musical moments that tell his story.

Not all of his works are personal tales, though. 

Spending lots of time reading, he often gets his inspiration from books.

The 43-year-old has another, more novel, way of writing songs. He said: “So I think one thing I’ve learned lately is I’ll write songs when I swim. 

“Yeah, when I’m swimming.

“While I’m swimming, say I’m doing breaststroke, when the stroke is good, you know, and I just forget that I’m swimming. 

“You lose track of your body in a way.”

You can also lose track of time when listening to some of Murry’s songs. 

One such track is ‘Little Coloured Balloons’.

Lasting over 10 and a half minutes, it is a testament to Murry’s writing that this has become one of his most popular songs.

The piano is beautiful in its simplicity, but the track excels most in its ability to engage, thanks to his emotive lyrics. 

The song also builds and falls effortlessly with strings and backing vocals. Now, though, Murry says he might like to produce a more stripped-back style.

The artist, originally from Tupelo, Mississippi, explained: “I started playing for like over a thousand people at shows and I felt like, a lot of times, I couldn’t see 10, 15 feet away and, you know, I couldn’t see the audience. 

“I think it’s funny, like you hit this point where I felt I didn’t like that.

“So, now, I’m kind of trying to figure out ‘do I want to make a record on an acoustic guitar, like a stripped-down kind of record myself, you know?’” 

Though Murry’s acoustic music set can sound quite folky and Americana-like, with a band it becomes closer to rock at times. 

He even played a cover of ‘Super Trouper’ by ABBA, on his latest Liverpool acoustic set.

He enjoys all types of music and is good friends with Declan McKenna who, after winning Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition in 2015, has gone on to sell out arenas with hits such as ‘Bethlehem’ and ‘Brazil’.

Murry also spoke glowingly of Liverpool’s music scene, dating back to The Beatles.

He said: “When I was younger, I thought Liverpool is the centre of all English rock’n’roll, it’s the centre of it all, right?

“So, in that sense, according to my mother, who would be a much larger Beatles fan than Elvis fan, that’s saying a lot for somebody who grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi.”

The La’s and Michael Head were two of Liverpool’s acts that Murry mentioned by name, but Paul McCartney and The Beatles are his favourite.

The musician recalled: “You know, Elvis can’t write ‘A Day in the Life’ or anything like that. 

“I think when the Beatles came to the States [USA], my mother and my uncle bought tickets.

“They weren’t allowed to go as it was in New Orleans and it was far away,  but they [The Beatles] sort of broke and that’s when rock ’n’ roll, as we know it, was created.

“We have huge shows in arenas and things like that but, before they did it, we didn’t, we had nothing like that.”

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He added: “Liverpool is a peculiar place, you know, in a good way.

“It’s like it’s a connecting point between so many parts of the world, between the States, between Ireland, you know, between other parts of this country.

“And it’s a place where, I don’t know; it’s a genuinely weird place and genuinely diverse place, just wacky and special, and I know a lot of musicians, fans too…

“So I think Liverpool changed the world, don’t you?”

We’d certainly like to think so.

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You can follow John Murry here and listen to his music here.