The Red Dog Acoustic Duo, formed by Dave Murphy and Dougal Speir, is an acoustic spin-off from the Red Dog Saloon Band. What people who know about blues music have to say about Dave and Dougal:- "Dave Murphy has to be NZ's finest acoustic blues guitarist, with an earthy voice and a real feel for pre-war styles.” – Mike Garner, Blues News.- "Dave is an icon in the New Zealand music scene" – music critic Nick Bollinger- “Dougal Speir playing so fine and righteous blues guitar – it knocks me around for about 3 weeks every time I see him play. Count that man’s fingers!!” – Karen Clark, Raumati South singer/songwriter.
Dave Murphy is a finger-style, blues picking guitar legend and one of New Zealand’s best interpreters of the blues. In the 1980s Dave travelled through the United States meeting musicians and learning blues tunes from the originals like Eugene Powell better known as Sonny Boy Nelson. This experience gave Dave an insight into music that has kept him in touch with the heart and soul of the blues ever since. One of the highlights of the journey was a trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi and neighbouring towns Greenville and Leland where he visited and played music with Mississippi blues greats. Dave recalls, "I went to Chicago and stayed there for four months. I went to the blues clubs on the north side where all the jams were happening and made some inroads eventually and got a residency at one of the clubs. That was big news for me cos Muddy Waters had done that as well, you know, and I just felt like I was stepping into these big footprints. These things are important, right? They help you connect somehow." Dave has opened for Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Champion Jack Dupree in Wellington, and played on stage with Robert Lockwood Jnr. Later in the 1980’s and early ‘90s Dave performed with his bands the Juke Jivers, and The Hot Leftovers with Darren Watson. Since the mid-'90s Dave and Dougal have been well known as key members of the Red Dog Saloon Band, one of the hottest live performance bands around; Dave’s vocal delivery and melodic guitar style a dramatic counterpoint to Dougal Speirs' more in-your-face approach to the guitar in that band.
Dougal was a founder of the Capital Blues Club in Wellington in 1996 and is still seen hanging around there most Thursday evenings. After finding notoriety and some fame with the legendary Mangawekas, Dougal has played with just about everybody, his brother (famous banjo and guitar player) Colin, Al Hunter, Billy TK Senior, Sonny Day and even Elvis (not the real one maybe) to name a few. Dougal has been playing alongside Dave for 27 (as he calls them) odd years and has enjoyed every minute of it. His beginnings were with his brother in a bluegrass band at the tender age of 12 and a fair bit of his playing still reflects this style. Dave and Dougal have completely different styles but as Dougal says “Dave just had to adapt and realise that I don’t play stuff correctly, he’s been good to me like that”. Dave Murphy quotes:- “The blues is 3 chords and the truth.”- “The blues is a music made by people who have struggled, have hard and true stories to tell, and do so in a voice that is compelling".
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