Michael Martin Murphey closed out a successful decade of recording with the album "Land of Enchantment", which contained "Never Givin' Up on Love", "Got to Pay the Fiddler", "Route 66", and "Land of Enchantment", which became New Mexico's state ballad. Despite the impressive critical and commercial success he achieved throughout the 1980s, Michael Martin Murphey's creative heart and spirit began to focus on the Western music that first captured his imagination as a boy growing up in Texas. As early as 1985, Murphey performed with the New Mexico Symphony in a show called "A Night in the American West", which led to many
The Land Is Bright Future TV star Dick Van Patten played a juvenile role. Max Gordon produced, Kaufmann directed, and Jo Mielziner designed the sets. "The Land Is Bright" was not a big hit, closing on January 3, 1942 after 79 performances and losing about $20,000. John Mason Brown, writing in the "New York World-Telegram", gave "The Land Is Bright" a review which helped kill the play: "Although Mr. Kaufman and Miss Ferber are far from their best when they now re-employ [the through-the-generations story device], "The Land Is Bright" is one of those productions at which you do listen and listen attentively (often