Lee Murdock is an Illinois folk musician who specializes in songs of the Great Lakes. A native of the Chicago area, he was a singer of blues and pop music in the 1970s before developing an interest in folk music from the region, especially songs by and about sailors on the Great Lakes.

Murdock made a deep study of Great Lakes songs and history found in the Ivan Walton Collection at the University of Michigan, which contains 29 file boxes of paper notes and many hours of early recordings of sailor songs. He has composed many shipwreck songs, including The Christmas Ship about the Rouse Simmons. His fans have discovered a “sweetwater treasure” in his songs, finding drama and inspiration in the lives of sailors and fishermen, lighthouse keepers, ghosts, shipwrecks, outlaws, and everyday heroes.

A fluent instrumentalist on six and twelve string guitars, Murdock combines ragtime, Irish, blues and folk styles with his flair for storytelling in songs. He has over 20 published recordings and has been called “the premier interpreter of songs and tales about the Great Lakes.”

In 2014, Lee Murdock formed the Dock Wallopers with Joel Simpson, Mike Bradburn, and Greg Smith, recording the album What About The Water. He has received the Joyce S. Hayward Award for Historic Interpretation from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History.