John Murry, a student and musician from Tupelo, Mississippi, lay limp from a heroin overdose at the Eula Hotel near the corner of 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco, less than two blocks from the college he believed mishandled a rape allegation from a fellow student.
Twenty years later, Murray says that the political fallout he encountered after attempting to expose wrongdoing at the school contributed to his descent into hard drugs—and led him to write two of his best-known songs.
As he recovered from that experience two decades ago, Murry turned the ordeal with the now-defunct school into lyrics. His debut solo album, The Graceless Age, which he finished in 2009 and released in 2013, ended up championed by critics worldwide, making Murry a cult figure among fans of Southern Gothic rock. Murry has been the subject of profiles in publications ranging from the UK’s The Guardian to The Wall Street Journal.
But none of Murry’s chroniclers have reported on his description of his contribution to the downfall of a locally prominent university, giving him what may be a significant role in the history of San Francisco.
Murry says he’s tried to describe this to interviewers. But they’ve been more interested in aspects of his past consistent with a Southern gothic archetype, such as his familial connection with William Faulkner, his violent Mississippi childhood, drug use and breakups.
During a recent return visit to San Francisco from Ireland, where he’s lived for the last...
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