Spurlins in music

This page brings together musicians surnamed Spurlin and people credited on records under that name. People with their own articles are linked; thinner items are summarised here with their sources. Record-by-record details for collectors are in Spurlin records and recordings, and streaming profiles are covered in Spurlin artists on streaming platforms. Theatre and opera performers are listed in Spurlins on stage, and radio work in Spurlins in broadcasting.

Rockabilly and country

• Tommy Spurlin (1928–2005) led Tommy Spurlin & the Southern Boys, whose 1956 single "Hang Loose (I've Gotta Rock)" / "One-Eyed Sam" is catalogued on Discogs.^[1][2] Discogs gives his real name as Thomas M. Spurlin and says he was born on January 12, 1928, in Elba, Alabama, and died on July 27, 2005, in Gulfport, Mississippi. MusicBrainz gives the same dates and places.^[1][3] Discogs also lists the band's Perfect single "There Might Have Been a Love Song" / "Tomorrow I'll Be Gone" (45-C-108, 1956), with Spurlin credited as writer.^[4] He shares the writing credit with Jerry Reed on "Heart Throb", which Ric Cartey released on RCA Victor in 1957.^[5]
• Jack Spurlin released country singles on the Lark (1969) and Hillbilly Heaven (1970) labels.^[6] Discogs also credits him as writer of songs recorded by other Hillbilly Heaven artists in 1970: "It's Not Serious", the B-side of a Randy Coy single, and both sides of Glenn Martin's "Ridin' the Rails" / "Fools Always Lose".^[7][8] He co-wrote "The World Outside", a 1972 single by Earl Royce.^[9]
• Tim Spurlin released two albums in 2002, according to AllMusic, which files both under gospel.^[10] I Promise You (April 7, 2002) is a set of hymns and gospel songs such as "Precious Memories" and "Amazing Grace".^[11] Old Five and Dimers (June 11, 2002) is made up of country songs, among them "Seven Spanish Angels", "Heartaches by the Number" and Merle Haggard's "Shelly's Winter Love".^[12] AllMusic's song listings for "Shelly's Winter Love" include Tim Spurlin's recording among about 30 versions, most of them credited to Haggard as composer.^[13]
• Chris Spurlin is credited on Discogs as the writer of "Loving Arms", a 1976 single by Bonnie Lois on the Country Creme label.^[14]
• Bob Spurlin is credited on Discogs as producer of Wallace McCormick's 1979 country single "Take My Heart" / "Another Sad Song" on Caspur Records. The B-side is credited to the same Discogs artist as writer, under the name Bobby Spurlin.^[15]
• Steve Spurlin shares a writing credit with Dub Allbritten on "When I Rested in the Lord", recorded by the gospel group the Whisnants on their 2006 album New Day Dawning.^[16]

1950s songwriting

• Ralph Spurlin Jr. co-wrote "The Prince of Players" with Arthur Korb. Discogs lists recordings by Tommy Frederick and the Hi-Notes and by Jimmy Lloyd in 1958 and by John E. Paul in 1967, and credits Spurlin on a 1955 MGM single by the Four Horsemen.^[17]

Soul, R&B and hip-hop

• Tracy Spurlin sang with producer George Kerr on "If You Could Read My Mind" / "Don't Fight the Feeling". Discogs lists the record as a 12-inch single on Harbor Light Records (HL 1004), in a 1986 US pressing with a silver label and an undated pressing with a red label.^[18][19] In September 2026 the UK soul-records retailer Soulbrother Records was selling a pre-owned US copy, which it lists under the label name Harbour Light Records.^[20] WhoSampled lists the Spurlin–Kerr recording as a cover of "If You Could Read My Mind" by the band Attitude, from its 1983 Atlantic album Pump the Nation.^[21] The single was reissued digitally as a five-track EP in 2014.^[22] A 1992 German compilation that Discogs marks as unofficial, The Good Groove Volume 4, credits Tracy Spurlin with a different track, "Win Your Love".^[23]
• K. Spurlin is one of three writers credited on Rappin Duke & Friends, a 1985 hip-hop 12-inch by Buzzy Bragg on Toe Jam Records.^[24]

Jazz, rock and metal

• Dwaine Spurlin is a San Francisco saxophonist, flutist and composer who leads the Dwaine Spurlin Band.^[25] Discogs credits him on soprano and tenor saxophone on the 1981 LP Karlton Hester and the Contemporary Jazz Art Movement, recorded at Hyde Street Studio in San Francisco, and on soprano saxophone on Kwaku Dadey's 1983 album Heritage II.^[26][27]
• Dr. Spiral Spurlin is credited as guest harmonica player on Store Bought (1978), an album by the rock band the Blazers on Cream of the Crop Records.^[28]
• Robert Spurlin, described on Discogs as a musician from Roswell, New Mexico,^[29] was one of the three members of the Hard Travelers on the group's 1977 LP. According to the Discogs notes, the Hard Travelers were a Lubbock Christian College student group whose line-up changed every year and who toured to promote the college.^[30]
• Jeremy Spurlin was lead guitarist of the Knoxville Christian metal band Disciple from 2001 to 2005, according to Wikipedia's list of the band's former members.^[31]

Bands and music education

• Virgil Spurlin was the band director at Hot Springs High School in Arkansas, where his students included Bill Clinton. Speaking at the VH1 Concert of the Century in 1999, Clinton called him "my wonderful high school band director".^[32]
• Corey Spurlin has directed the Auburn University Marching Band since 2007.^[33] Discogs lists credits for him on the band's albums from 2008–2009 to 2017–2018, including music director and liner-notes writer (as "Dr. Corey Spurlin") on the 2017–2018 CD.^[34][35] Apple Music lists the band's 2011–2012 album under "Auburn University Marching Band & Dr. Corey Spurlin".^[36]

Singer-songwriters and streaming artists

• Dillon Spurlin performs acoustic music as "Spurlin the Music" in Minnesota, North Dakota and Arizona.^[37] His website links to the Spotify profile under the single name Spurlin, whose biography describes a Minnesota singer-songwriter who can be followed as "@Spurlinthemusic".^[37][38] He has also played leading roles in Fargo–Moorhead musicals, starting with Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar in 2019 (see Spurlins on stage).^[39]
• William Spurlin is an independent composer whose streaming catalog runs from 2020 to 2025. It includes a series of sports "anthem" singles.^[40][41]
• Robert Spurlin and Larry Spurlin have Apple Music profiles with recent independent releases. Robert Spurlin's began in September 2025 and range across country, rock and comedy, and Larry Spurlin's are ten singles from February 2026, half of which Apple Music files under Christian music.^[42][43] This wiki has not established whether the streaming artist Robert Spurlin is the same person as the 1970s Hard Travelers member.

Opera and concert singers

Classical singers are covered in more detail in Spurlins on stage.

• Doug Spurlin is a Tucson tenor. A 2014 concert announcement said he had sung Rodolfo in La Bohème, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus and Siegmund in Die Walküre with companies including Arizona Opera, and had made his international debut as Siegmund with the Polish National Opera in Warsaw.^[44]
• Sarah Spurlin is an Oklahoma soprano. Cimarron Opera's artist page lists her as Casilda in its The Gondoliers and says she appears regularly with OK City Opera.^[45]

The record business

• Cal Spurlin was a PolyGram sales representative in the Carolinas who appears in record-trade magazines from 1979 to 1989. In 1979 Billboard named him, then a PolyGram salesman in Charlotte, as one of the people behind a national display contest for the Record Bar chain's 90 stores.^[46] In 1981 Record World reported that he helped present a prize in a PolyGram display contest at Record Bar's convention on Hilton Head Island.^[47] He appears in a 1982 Billboard photograph with John Cougar at a Record Bar store in Greensboro, North Carolina.^[48] In 1989 a Billboard retail column on Record Bar's annual awards reported that he was one of two sales representatives honoured.^[49]

Similar names

Discogs also has pages for musicians with the Spurling spelling, such as Charles Spurling (born 1936 in Lincoln Heights, Ohio) and the Chicago blues bassist Spurling Banks. Spurling is a different surname, so they are not listed above.^[50][51] The English comedy-music duo Bell & Spurling, made up of Martin Bell and Johnny Spurling, has its own entry. In October 2001 BBC Sport reported that their football single "Sven, Sven, Sven" had been the previous week's highest new entry in the chart, at number seven.^[52]