Who’s Who: Jim Murphy: A Deep Rooted Local!

Who’s Who: Jim Murphy: A Deep Rooted Local!
By Mike Butler

If the name Jim Murphy doesn’t bring music to your ears right now, come September it sure will! Jim is part of the very busy board handling the organization and marketing for the 15th Deep Roots Festival in Wolfville. It’s gonna be a busy couple of weeks for Jim and his team but he was willing to lend me some time for this profile. Hear is a sweet little blurb about Jim Murphy!

Jim was born and raised in Wolfville, went to Wolfville School, Horton High School, and then on to Acadia and Dalhousie. “My family arrived in Wolfville in the early 1800s,” Jim says, “so our roots are pretty deep. I am married to the wonderful Leigh-Ann and I have three children (Logan, Patrick, and John-Ross). All three are graduates of Acadia. We lived in Montreal in the 1990s and came back home so that the kids could walk to school and have a small town up-bringing and it all worked out perfectly.”

Jim started in pharmaceuticals and has been working in the health technology sector ever since. At present, he works in business development and strategy in the telehealth industry. He says, “I have had the pleasure to visit many parts of the world and to learn how they deliver healthcare. I get to play with the latest and greatest technology (things like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data etc.), and to work with healthcare professionals and, most importantly, patients every day.”

Jim, like most of us, believes the Annapolis Valley is the most beautiful place in the world. He says, “We love wine, the idea of slow food, fresh from the farm produce, and all of the live music, art, and theatre that happens here. The fact that we can live and work in a relatively rural setting but have access to the world either virtually or through easy access to the airport makes this place ideal.”

Now, about this whole Deep Roots thing: well, if you’re a stranger to this festival then its time you got on board. “After having the best craft beer in Nova Scotia at Horton Ridge,” Jim says, “I skip over to my other job which is working with the team at the Deep Roots Music Co-op, where I am on the board and work on marketing and publicity, both during the festival and also whenever we invite performers into the Valley to play for us. This is the 15th anniversary for the Festival (Sept 27-30) and we are really excited to welcome another fantastic line up including Jim Cuddy, William Prince, The Sadies, Leahy, Valdy, Ryan Cook, and many more.”

For ticket information, as the passes and events usually sell out, go to The Box of Delights Bookshop on Main Street, Wolfville, as that’s where the Deep Roots Office is, or you can visit the website at deeprootsmusic.ca, and, of course, the festival is all over social media so join up there for more information and enjoy the music!