The fry cook behind the counter in The Blues Brothers, married to Aretha Franklin's character, was not a Hollywood character actor. He was Matthew Tyler Murphy, known as Matt Guitar Murphy, a foundational Chicago blues guitarist born December 29 in Sunflower, Mississippi, and raised in Memphis, where his father worked at the Peabody Hotel. This episode explores how a man who spent decades making other people sound better became globally famous in a suit and sunglasses next to two comedians.

The conversation follows his 1948 move to Chicago and immediate work with Howlin' Wolf and Little Junior Parker, his 1950s sessions with Ike Turner, his central role on Memphis Slim's 1959 album At the Gate of Horn, his recordings with Chuck Berry, and his work with Koko Taylor, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Buddy Guy, Etta James, Otis Rush, and Willie Dixon. ...