Michael Martin Murphey could be called the world's most prominent musical representative of the Western horseman, the horse rancher, cattle rancher, and cowboy. He is the number one, best-selling singers of American Cowboy music, as well as being one of the world's most respected songwriters in the Pop and Country-Western field. Capturing the soul of the country's deserts, plains and mountains is his self-proclaimed mystical quest.

That he is achieving his purpose shows up in the honors he's racked up: Several Gold albums, the Charlie Russell Award for Western Heritage, five "Wrangler" awards from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame, induction into the Western Music Hall of Fame in 2004 - the list goes on and on. The award he loves the best, he says, is the Golden Smoky Award, given to him by the Department of Interior for his tireless work in conservation and wildlands fire awareness.

A good guy he definitely is. And people just love him. Rolling Stone Magazine gushed about him being "the best new songwriter in the country" when his first album came out. The audience was charmed by him on the David Letterman Show (go to www.michaelmartinmurphey.com for a video of it).

Don't miss him at The Center for the Arts Saturday.