His early musical influences were Little Richard, Fats Domino, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Ray Charles.

"[1] The duo eventually split up, and Koerner pursued an unsuccessful career in filmmaking, temporarily retiring from the music business and moving to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Murphy performed on piano, bass, guitar and other instruments as a session musician for Raitt, Koerner, Greg Brown, Prudence Johnson, Little Milton, and many others.

He formed the Atomic Theory Records label in 1985 and released albums by himself, Phil Heywood, Boiled in Lead, Larry Long, and various world music artists.

[4] Murphy's double-CD release A Shot of Love in a Time of Need/Autobiographical Notes reached number 14 in Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart in 2010.