This is PART ONE of our conversation with the great Jeff Murphy from Shoes. Stay tuned for the second part where we get into our Top 5 lists!

Of course, we travel all over the musical and geographical map on O3L. This week, we stop firmly in the heartland of the ol' US of A - the 12 states that the Census Bureau has declared as the midwest. Far away from the show-biz epicenters of Los Angeles and New York, we celebrate the bands who crafted brilliant music and created their own homegrown scenes often in unlikely locations.

Our special Third Lad for this discussion is a musician whom we've loved and admired for many years, none other than singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Jeff Murphy from melodic pop/rock legends Shoes. Jeff takes us through the nearly 50 year history of Shoes, from an imaginary band with a tape recorder to DIY indie pioneers to a major label, big producers and some of the first videos shown on MTV, and ultimately returning to their independent roots in the mid-80s (and never looking back!). Along with his bassist brother John Murphy and guitarist Gary Klebe, the nucleus of this important group split the writing and singing duties on classic records such as Black Vinyl Shoes (1977), Present Tense (1979), Tongue Twister (1981), Boomerang (1982), and Silhouette (1984). Jeff has also notably produced bands such as Material Issue and pre-Garbage band Spooner in Shoes' Short Order Recorder Studio.

This is an epic two-parter that you don't want to miss!

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Cults of the Blood Gods, The Family 04: John