For over 50 years, Dewey Murphy used an old Gibson mandolin to play bluegrass music around North Carolina. He was emblematic of the first generation of bluegrass musicians, who grew up in the lean years of the 1930s surrounded by old-time and early country music. Dewey and his brother Fred played all along the front range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which was and continues to be a hotbed for bluegrass and old-time music. Although he never reached fame like Bill Monroe, Dewey Murphy was well known in North Carolina and performed regularly up into the final years of his life. He passed away in August 2017, leaving behind a rich musical legacy and a very special mandolin which has subsequently been nicknamed "Dewey".

For bluegrass aficionados, Gibson F5 mandolins signed by acoustic engineer Lloyd Loar are the most prized instrument. Bill Monroe famously played a Gibson F5 that was signed on July 9th, 1923 and many credit this instrument in particular with the development of bluegrass. Once fellow musicians began realizing the quality of these old Gibson mandolins, of which there are fewer than 300 existing, they began searching them out, collecting them and studying them. Players would search for years before finally finding one. Most simply refer to these coveted mandolins as Loars.

Dewey Murphy found his Loar in the early 1960s through mandolin dealer Harry West in New York City. The mandolin was signed on February 18th, 1924, but it has features that set it apart from other mandolins signed on this date. It has a thin 3-piece neck that is normally found on mandolins from 1922. It has side binding that is only found on mandolins signed on July 9th, 1923. The current theory is that this mandolin was assembled out of spare parts, a "floor sweep" model. At any rate, the mandolin was signed and stamped with the serial number 75686 and shipped out of the factory. No one knows where it traveled in the decades before Dewey or what style of music it produced, but once he got a hold of it, it became a bluegrass mandolin.

The concept for “Happy Birthday, Dewey!” was simple. We would celebrate the 100th birthday of the Dewey Murphy Loar by recording it in both ensemble and solo settings. While I had the obvious pleasure of playing mandolin, it was also a thrill to be joined by the amazing talents of Rebecca Branson Jones (banjo), Riley Calcagno (fiddle), Sonya Badigian (guitar) and Joebass DeJarnette (bass). We selected two original tunes from the Murphy Brothers repertoire, Cherokee and Sandy Mush, and recorded them for this project alongside several legendary old time fiddle tunes. On each of these tracks, you can hear me getting acquainted with the mandolin and figuring out how to pull the best tone from the instrument. Rebecca and I also teamed up to document the journey of "Dewey" in a forth coming short documentary.

People write a lot about how mandolins sound and use all sorts of words like brilliant, dark, growly, crunchy, zinging, searing, woody, woofy. It’s really hard to describe just how amazing the Dewey Murphy Loar sounds and I hope through this recording, you’ll just be able to hear it for yourself. Happy Birthday, Dewey! Here’s to the next 100 years!

-Daniel Ullom, February 18th, 2024