Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer (aka The Murphy Beds) present traditional and original folk songs with close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements on bouzouki, guitar, and mandolin. They have toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, with performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), Alaska Folk Festival (Juneau), Doolin Folk Festival (Ireland), and Unamplifire Festival (London) among many others.
Eamon and Jefferson began playing together at traditional music sessions in New York City. They shared an interest in collecting, arranging, and performing songs from Irish, American, Scottish, and English traditions. As they began to collaborate – first in larger ensembles, but most enduringly as a duo – they also recognized an affinity for other more contemporary idioms. Whatever the source – songs of the Irish travelers, Arkansas spirituals, or their own compositions – their arrangements feature the same carefully wrought interplay of voices and strings. In reference to a pair of their original songs, The New Yorker wrote, “with crispy guitar licks and geographic lyrics about a wandering worker… it reminds me of Woody Guthrie’s Columbia River song series,” and “I want to describe it as an Ian Tyson-esque ballad about a man stranded on an island and then lost at sea, but it feels more like a chain of imagistic verses that take you through a dreamscape.” https://www.murphybedsmusic.com/