About Us

Sock Monkey performs in a variety of venues and events, sometimes as “Sock Monkey Acoustic Duo”, other times as a full rockin’ band, “Sock Monkey The Band”. It all depends on the situation and the type music and atmosphere our venue partners want.

We are a fun band of friends who genuinely enjoy each other and making music together. We’re based in the beautiful N. Georgia mountains, about an hour and a half from downtown Atlanta. The founding members of Sock Monkey are Jim “Murph” Murphy and Ellen (also known as “Murf”) Murphy Bennett. Paradoxically they are not related or married to each other! The two Murphs met at a mutual friend’s house in late 2017, collaborating on a music project. They soon realized they had similar tastes in music and enjoyed performing together…and Sock Monkey Acoustic Duo was born.

A few months later, Jim and Ellen were jamming with several other musicians at drummer Steve Smeltz’ house, and the three began to realize that they had musical interests and ideas that could only be realized in a full band configuration….and Sock Monkey The Band was born.

Since then we’ve added additional artist/friends and Sock Monkey The Band currently includes the following members:

Jim Murphy-Guitars, vocals Ellen Murphy Bennett-vocals, percussion Tom McGuire-Guitars, vocals Steve Smeltz- Drums, Percussion, vocals John Wolf-Bass, vocals