Santa Fe Trail Association Presents Award to Honorary Chair Michael Martin Murphey at Koshare Kiva

Description: Debbie Goodrich presents Honorary Chair of the Santa Fe Trail Bicentennial Symposium Michael Martin Murphey with an award during intermission at the Koshare Kiva Trading Post and Museum in La Junta.


Published: 10/06/2021
Byline: Hart

Santa Fe Trail Association Presents Award to Honorary Chair Michael Martin Murphey at Koshare Kiva

Michael Martin Murphey and The Santa Fe Trail Koshare Kiva La Junta Colorado

As part of the Bicentennial Symposium for the 200th Anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail Michael Martin Murphey performed at the historic Koshare Kiva Trading Post and Museum in La Junta. The performance was titled: Michael Martin Murphey on the Santa Fe Trail. 

Murphey brought the community out to see his show; it was a full house. Murphey's performance was outstanding and included masterpieces such as the official ballad song of New Mexico, "Land of Enchantment" highlighted by the rich atmosphere of the Koshare Kiva.

"Sometimes you have to realize that places don't make music, people make music. When people start making music because of a place and saying that the place made the music, that's not valid. I wanted to be free, I believe in free expression." - Michael Martin Murphey

Murphey's performance of his song Carolina in the Pines, which ironically was recorded in Colorado, was stellar. Overall, it was an emotionally uplifting performance in a very spiritual venue, which made for an enchanting country western experience from one of America's greatest keepers of Old West Lore. Murphey speaks the language of the American West, which translates well to song and many who attended the concert described the overall experience as magical.

Murphey described his setlist and concert program as two parts, the first part was country and the second part was western. During intermission, Debbie Goodrich with the Santa Fe Trail Association presented Michael Martin Murphey with special recognition from the Santa Fe Trail Association for the promotion and preservation of the historical legacy associated with the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.

Award Presentation Video Transcript:

Goodrich: "What an amazing place, the acoustics in here are incredible, honest to God Murph's guitar has never sounded better. This has been wonderful."

"If love doesn't last forever, what's forever for? Isn't that the truth? Everybody in this room is here because of our love for the American West. Some of us for the Santa Fe Trail, some of us for the music of the trail, some of us for the art, the food, all those pieces of the American West, but it's the one thing that we have in common and I don't think that we're a vanishing breed, I think that love lives forever..."

"...And nobody puts voice to that love and that passion for the American West better than Michael Martin Murphey, and we're so honored to have him as our honorary chair person for the Santa Fe Trail two-hundred and we have extended our anniversary. Our official commemoration is 2021 through 2025, and that commemoration doesn't mean that the story is over then."

"We have got to make sure that in 50 years, and 100 years, and another 150, and another 200 years, the people that love the west like we do have pieces of it to share, and still have that vista to look to, and Murph's music is going to be a piece of how they understand it and come to love it. Thank you so much."

"Murph, we've got a special little award for you, I'm going to give this to Cindy to hold on to, from the Santa Fe Trail Association special recognition presented to Michael Martin Murphey as honorary chair of the Santa Fe Trail 200th and for the promotion and preservation of the historical legacy associated with the Santa Fe National Historic Trail 2021."

Murphey: "Thank you, I've always loved history, and now I am history."

"Thank you Deb and thank you everybody from Santa Fe Trail Association, Bent's Fort, National Park Service for putting together this incredible symposium. I hope it just grows and grows, and we get past the challenges we have now. Everybody will have easy access to it and more and more people can get a chance to experience it."

"This is extremely meaningful to me getting appointed to that position really meant a lot and boy am I living that dream...you can never absorb it all."

Michael Martin Murphey and The Santa Fe Trail at the Koshare Kiva Museum

Follow SECO News on The Santa Fe Trail:

seconews.org/santa-fe-trail

https://www.facebook.com/SECONews



Follow SECO News on Facebook.
Subscribe to the SECO News YouTube Channel.




Announcements Sponsor