David Lee Murphy is feeling pretty good these days.

Tryin' to Get There, his first album in seven years, was released in March to good reviews and its first single, Loco, hit Billboard's country Top 5 last week.

"It's been on the charts with a bullet for 26 weeks now, which is a lot," says the Illinois-bred singer, who brings his raucous blend of hardened country and classic rock to Cowboys tomorrow night.

"I'm really happy because it gives more people the chance to hear it, the longer it plays (on radio)."

With lyrics about hula girls on shot glasses, firing up the grill, plugging in hot pepper lights and pretending "that we're living on Key West time," Loco is a working-class slice of life that Murphy says all people can relate to.

"It's actually my house," he says.

"I've got those little hot pepper lights in my kitchen. I've got a tiki torch in my backyard and I grill out a lot when I'm at home.

"I think everybody sits in their backyard and imagines they're somewhere else and tries to forget all the crap going on in their lives.

"The song is about kicking back and taking it easy and dealing with the crap tomorrow."

Murphy has had to deal with his own issues during the past number of years.

Despite the massive success of his 1995 singles, Party Crowd and Dust on the Bottle, Murphy found himself without a label when MCA dropped him in the late '90s.

As he searched for a label, he continued to tour and write songs, including one with musical idol Waylon Jennings, which ended up being the title track of his new record.

Murphy eventually signed with Audium/Koch.

"I like being on an independent label," says Murphy.

"As opposed to having a hundred people working on (the CD) in this mega corporation, we've got half a dozen people in an office, and they're all fired up and excited about the project.

"It's fun. It's all about the music. It's not that money-making mentality and it makes it much more fun to be an artist."

Murphy says the next single will be the power ballad Inspiration, featuring slide guitar from Lee Roy Parnell. The singer is excited about the choice as it's not typical Murphy fare.

"It's kind of a new thing for me. Everyhting I do is a bit edgier so I think this is going

to be another side of me that people haven't seen."

As happy as Murphy is with the new CD, it's onstage where he really gets to connect with his fans. "We've got a really broad spectrum of people who come to our shows," he says.

"Last year when we played (Nashville North), it was a really rowdy crowd. That's part of the reason we love to come up there.

"Every time we've played the Stampede, we've had a rockin', rowdy crowd."